


Hope and Willpower

by ReturningWriter



Series: Together in All Things [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, BAMF Kara Danvers, BAMF Lena Luthor, Background Relationships, Consensual Sex, Dialogue Heavy, Dorks in Love, Drama & Romance, Established Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Eventual marriage, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Hero Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers is a Tease, Kind of a crossover, Kryptonian Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Lena Luthor as Green Lantern, Marriage Proposal, Past Tense, Protective Kara Danvers, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 07:51:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 122,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19741354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReturningWriter/pseuds/ReturningWriter
Summary: Sequel to Mirror Images where Lena and Kara try to settle into a semblance of a normal life with breakfasts before work, marriage proposals and a looming new threat.Lena struggles with a change in her Green Lantern powers while Kara continues to search for a balance between her Kryptonian heritage and her Earth upbringing.Meanwhile, there are random outbreaks of mass hysteria popping up all over National City and who is the mysterious woman from Gotham applying for Jess' old job at L-Corp?The story starts slow but slowly expands into a universe threatening fight for survival and more importantly how the girls will survive those pre-wedding jitters.





	1. A Normal Life

Alarms were blaring from two cell phones, one in a pink case the other in stylish black one and the ringing of an old-style alarm clock echoed through the bedroom of the Luthor-Danvers household. Discarded pieces of superhero costumes in blue and red and black and green strewn around the room. Lena Luthor, Earth’s Green Lantern and CEO of L-Corp groaned and fumbled for her phone, unable to find it she summoned up a glowing green hammer that smashed their recently bought antique alarm clock into submission and two bolts of green electricity zapped their phones into silence.

“Kara, wake up, we need to get to work,” she grumbled pushing on the shoulder of Kara Danvers, her live-in girlfriend, reporter and most importantly Supergirl.

“Don’t wanna! Hate Mondays!” the blonde grumbled back and pulled the covers up over her head as she curled up into a ball. Patting her girlfriend on the head through the sheets she stretched and let out a loud yawn.

They’d spent the previous night chasing down an anti-alien group that had gotten their hands on a yellow power ring left behind by one of Sinestro’s minions during his attack on National City a few months ago. The idiots had been trying to weaponize it, and the results had been a cavalcade of yellow horrors rampaging through docks. Rolling out of bed she slipped her feet into the pink bunny slippers Kara had given her, then pulling on a Green Day t-shirt that Kara had thought was hilarious to buy her as well before she dragged her aching body to the kitchen. 

The morning routine now consisted of toasting frozen waffles and making them both cups of tea as she checked her emails. Then summoning up her newly acquired green glowing power-battery, and in a new change to her superhero routine, she charged up her ring. After having her ring run out of power during Sinestro’s attacks, she’d suggested to Ganthet and the Guardians that maybe having a way to recharge her ring locally instead of via quantum entanglement with the citadel battery on Oa might be a good idea. Pointing her power ring at the glowing green lantern that served as her power battery, she spoke her oath and watched as emerald tendrils of ethereal energy flowed from the battery into her ring. 

“In brightest day, in blackest night,  
No evil shall escape my sight.  
Let those who worship evil's might  
Beware my power--Green Lantern's light!"

The ring was still, of course, just a tool and a handy reservoir of power. After things had returned to some form of normal in her life following her tumultuous first months of being a superhero, she’d done some research into the green fire she’d wielded when she’d lost her ring. Not that it had turned up much, inside her was power much like the ring’s, but somehow different, Ganthet had been frustratingly vague on the subject and had simply stated that it was her mystery to solve. Cursing cryptic space grandpa’s everywhere and then herself for yet again talking to herself in her head

“You know there is something so hot yet incredibly geeky about you in pink bunny slippers while still being a badass Green Lantern,” Kara laughed emerging from their bedroom in red boyshorts and her blue bedazzled super-girlfriend t-shirt. No glasses in sight and she rose up and flew over placing a kiss on her lips. 

“Says the girl who can be defeated by me just doing this,” she said with a smile and kissed her girlfriend back as she reached out and gently rubbed Kara’s left earlobe between her fingers which caused the blonde Kryptonian to fly higher and wiggle her bare toes.

“Should have never told you about that,” the hovering blonde grumbled with a pout and lowered herself to the ground. Just then the toaster popped, and Lena felt a rush of air as Kara sped around their kitchen getting their breakfast ready, and in a blink of an eye, waffles with jam, two cups of steaming tea and cut up fruits appeared in front of her.

“That will never get old,” she admitted and sent her power battery back into its pocket dimension for safekeeping as Kara sat at the kitchen island looking happy with herself.

“How does your day look?” the owner of National City’s most bottomless stomach asked, biting into a waffle tripping with strawberry jam while she picked up her tea and blew on it.

“Need to review a new assistant candidate with Jess so she can move into her new position fully and then I’m going to try to work on that fusion reactor again,” she said and there was something adorable about how Kara’s eyes would light up when she started thinking about physics or anything science-related.

“Let me guess you tried blasting the fuel pellet with lasers, because you love lasers and they’re cool, but the alloy in the containment chamber couldn’t take the temperature or the pressure and cracked?” the blonde asked reaching for a pen and notepad she always kept on their kitchen counter. 

“Pretty much, the energy-output math you helped me with was solid, though my team barely understood it. I don’t think there isn’t an alloy on Earth that could hold up to those forces,” she explained as Kara was already sketching something. She leaned over the kitchen island to take a look, it appeared to be the atomic structure of what looked like to be a steel alloy, but the structure was like nothing she’d ever seen. 

“Here, this might help, it’s theoretical, but it might give you a push in the right direction,” Kara declared, signed the page MZ, short for Mentor Zor-El, and handed it over. Reading over Kara’s notes, she squinted her eyes, even though she spoke Kryptonian reading it was another matter. This was actually Kara’s way of teaching her and she loved the challenge, plus it helped the blonde Kryptonian stay in touch with her heritage. 

“Is this your version of you can copy my homework, but don’t make it too obvious?” she asked, and Kara just smiled innocently before taking a huge bite out of her waffle. 

“Maybe,” the brainy blonde mumbled through a mouthful of waffles and jam before swallowing.

“Why don’t you just come and work for me? I mean you’re already smarter than almost everyone in my research department,” she offered and not for the first time. Kara was, of course, a reporter and a damn good one, but it sometimes felt to her as wasted potential.

“As much I would love to have you as my boss-boss,” Kara said and finished off her waffle before licking her fingers clean of any excess jam. “I’m a journalism major, so it would be highly suspect if I’d just show up and solve things some very intelligent people have spent a lifetime working towards solving. Not that I would solve it in like a second, it would take time, I mean the math is super complicated, but you get what I’m saying right?” her girlfriend asked her somehow fluttering between uber-confident and humble in the span of just a few sentences. Infuriating as it was, her girlfriend was right, annoying but, right. 

Walking around the kitchen island, she just nodded and smiled before wrapping her arms around the girl of steel whose brains matched her brawn. Kissing her nose which always made it scrunch up just a little Lena looked into those sapphire blue eyes and did something Luthor’s rarely did. Admitted defeat.

“I know, I know, and you’re right as usual, but it’s just such a brilliant mind you keep inside this hard head of yours,” she groaned kissing Kara on the forehead and then on the lips as she sat perched on one of the high chairs by their kitchen island.

“I’m not that hard-headed,” Kara protested with a shy smile and pulled her in closer while spreading her long tan legs to make room. 

“I’ve literally seen you get into a headbutting contest with an intergalactic bounty hunter and win,” she laughed and felt the blonde wrapping her legs around her as any plans of getting work on time went out the window. 

“Well, Lobo was very rude to you and deserved it, you’re a hot and busty piece of ass sure, but nobody gets to call you that but me,” the blonde hero countered with her trademark earnesty while pulling at Lena’s Green Day t-shirt. 

“We’ll be late, again,” she tried to argue, but her Kryptonian girlfriend had that look in her eyes again and she raised her arms above her head allowing herself to be undressed. Kara she’d discovered was a breasts aficionado. The blonde loved to fondle, caress and most importantly kiss them. 

“You’re the CEO of your own global tech company and I’ve got super speed,” Kara again countered her quite valid arguments and leaned in wrapping soft lips around her nipple while hooking her ankles behind her back making escape impossible.

“You’re just… the worst.... such a bad… influence... and you call yourself… Ohh… a hero....” she moaned as Kara started toying with her nipples and she threw her head back and moaned even louder when the giggling blonde started grinding against her. 

Giving a surprised yelp when Kara gently grazed her teeth against her painfully stiff nipple. "Give it up Luthor," she heard the blonde nymph giggle even louder and she raked her fingers through a maim of blonde hair. 

“You… win… just… oh hopping Higgs bosons... make it quick,” she whimpered, her desire winning out over rational thought. After all, why be the boss if you couldn’t enjoy a quickie in the morning with your superhero girlfriend after all?

“Yay!” her blonde nymph cheered and started moving her hips in slow circles while covering her breasts in glistening salvia. They were indeed late for work that Monday morning, but one of the things Lena had learned was that Kara usually got what she wanted. This morning that was her, screaming please and she was okay with that.

* * *

Arriving at L-Corp headquarters at the rechristened National City Towers Lena stepped out of her limo and looked up with quite a bit of pride at the mostly completed towers. After Sinestro’s attack, much of the original L-Crop building had been damaged beyond repair, so she’d set about designing a new home for her company. Two gleaming towers now rose up behind the old L-Corp building meant to symbolize unity and renewal. When completed they would define the National City skyline and provide room for L-Corp to grow and expand for years to come.

“Good morning,” she greeted the two security guards at the front desk and handed them the brown paper bags Kara had insisted she take. 

“Good morning Miss Luthor make sure to thank the missus for us,” one of them chuckled taking the offered snacks. 

Stepping into the elevator she adjusted the House of El pin on her jacket and made sure that her power ring was facing inwards. As the elevator rose up through the almost completed north tower, she took the time to think. The missus, she’d have to tell Kara about that. They’d been together for what felt like a long time now and the ease which they’d fallen into a comfortable routine of domestic bliss had surprised her. It brought her back to a long-running debate she’d been having with herself. Was she ready to propose to Kara Danvers and did Kryptonians even do marriage like that? The ding of the elevator opening revealed Jess, dressed in a navy-blue dress holding her ever-present tablet. 

“Good morning Miss Luthor,” Jess greeted her with a smile falling into step with her as she headed for her office.

“Morning Jess aren’t you on the wrong floor, the chief operations officer’s office is one floor down?” she asked. 

“I’m still your assistant for the next two weeks,” Jess reminded her and then smiled. “And you’re late, is domestic bliss agreeing with you a bit too much?” she added in a rare display of banter.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I got stuck in traffic?” she lamely offered and tried to wriggle her way out of the conversation about her sex life, her very active super-power sex-life at that.

“Not a chance, since you both can move fast when the situation calls for it,” her new chief operations officer said with a knowing smirk before launching into a rundown of the day's schedule. Meetings as per usual took up the bulk of her day, followed by some time allotted for her to work on the reactor.

“You had a new assistant candidate for me?” she asked walking across her new office with its massive balcony, very handy for visits from Supergirl or herself launching into action as Green Lantern. Sitting down at her white desk she gave her new chair a spin and faced an amused Jess. Kara was rubbing off on her in all kinds of ways it would seem.

“I do believe I’ve found someone yes, she used to work for Wayne Tech and comes highly recommended,” Jess nodded and pushed a folder across the desk towards her.

“Casandra Cain?” she asked reading the name on the folder and opening she saw a picture of a striking young Asian woman with a serious expression on her face and short dark hair. Flipping through the recommendations she stopped at a glowing one from Bruce Wayne himself.

“As I said she comes highly recommended and I’ve already conducted a phone interview with her, do you want me to fly her in for a face to face?” Jess asked and already tapping away at her tablet.

“Black belt in… oh wow, that’s a lot of martial arts, fluent in sign language and Mandarin Chinese, worked as an assistant before doing some overseas work for Wayne Tech, interesting, yes call her in,” she concluded reading through miss Cain’s bio. 

“How was your weekend with Alex by the way?” she asked putting down the folder and leaning back in her chair.

“It went well thanks for asking. Though dating a… spy for the lack of a better term with a slight case of workaholism is an interesting experience,” Jess admitted leaning against the desk. 

“You and Kara should form a club, Girlfriends of Workaholics Anonymous,” she laughed, and Jess just shook her head at the silliness of the name. 

“What makes you think we haven’t already?” her assistant asked with a grin on her face. “We touch base every so often over coffee,” she explained. “How was your weekend, I saw the news reports about the fight at the harbor?” she asked.

“Nothing too bad, just some dipshits thinking they could scare the aliens out of National City using one of the rings left behind by Sinestro’s goons,” she groaned and rubbed her eyes distinctly feeling the lack of sleep now.

“And I hope you’re not throwing yourself into needless fights,” the woman who’d become her confidant over the past several months asked her sounding genuinely concerned. “I may have handed over my patching you up duties to Alex and Kara, but I still worry about you,” she added.

“No, nothing reckless and no cuts nor bruises or Kara wouldn’t let me hear the end of it, she still reminds me of what happened when we fought Sinestro,” she said and tapped her ring hand against her side that still bore a faint scar from that encounter.

“She means well and you did kind of go in guns blazing on that one, I reviewed the footage so I should know, but you did look very heroic doing it,” Jess commented dryly and a buzz from her tablet signaled that the first meeting of the day was about to start. “I’ll get you some coffee and send your first guests in,” she offered, and Lena just nodded with a smile.

Spinning the folder on her desk around a few times she wondered who Bruce Wayne was sending her way. Having met the billionaire playboy of Gotham a few times during the work to rebuild National City she’d not bought his act for a second and something inside her told her that there was much more to the man than met the eye. It was something to look into later because duty called. Straightening herself she felt a warm sensation in her fingers and looking at them she saw that they were glowing faintly green, focusing on her ring made them fade to normal however. Putting it down to a slight case of exhausting she got ready to face the day as the CEO of L-Corp.

* * *

Kara wasn’t having as enjoyable of a morning as her girlfriend. Having arrived very late thanks to her little early morning lovemaking with Lena followed by a Supergirl emergency, she found CatCo. in an uproar with people running around in a state of hysterical panic. Acting on impulse she’d grabbed the first person she’d encountered and demanded to know what was going on in a very non-Danvers kind of way. The poor guy had just pointed towards James’ office before running for the elevators. Squaring her shoulders, she took off her glasses and hung them from the front of her cardigan. Then she put two fingers up to her lips she blew a sharp note at a high enough pitch so everybody around heard and stopped in their tracks

“Everyone calm down and get back to work,” she ordered them and the frozen CatCo. employees looked at her for a second, appearing stunned at being ordered around by Kara Danvers of all people. “Please,” she added flashing them a smile and to her surprise, they obeyed which only left the two men arguing in the CEO’s office. Smoothing down the front of her red cardigan she strode into the office.

Inside what had once been Cat Grant’s office James and Snapper were in a screaming match that looked about ready to get physical as James almost had his hands around the shorter man’s neck. Huffing she stepped between them and with a bit more strength than Kara Danvers should possess she pushed them apart. 

“Hey! Knock it off, you’re grown men for fu….” she caught herself before she cursed and glared at them both. Holding both men by the front of their shirts she twisted them for good measure. 

“What’s going on? Why is the staff running scared?” she demanded of them as they both stared at her like she’d grown a second head as she let go of them and pulled what Lena would call a power move as she walked around James’s desk and sat down in his chair.

“He wants to kill my story about what really happened at the docks last night,” Snapper started as James huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“He wants to suggest that this is all Green Lantern’s fault for drawing Sinestro to Earth and that Supergirl shouldn’t be associating with her,” James countered. “Which there is no basis for,” he added.

“That doesn’t change the truth that ever since that purple-skinned megalomaniac attack those damn yellow rings have been showing up regularly,” Snapper countered back. “Be it Green Lantern’s fault or not, that wouldn’t have happened if her, so-called intergalactic police peacekeeping force hadn’t decided to set up shop on Earth,” he argued as they looked about ready to lunge for each other again so she banged her fist on the desk making them snap to.

“Oh, I do not believe either of you for a second and furthermore you didn’t answer my question,” she huffed and leaned forward with her arms resting on the desk looking at them firmly. “Tell me what is really going on or I’ll call up Lena or Miss Grant, or maybe both,” she threatened them, and she had to admit that it felt kind of good throwing her weight around. Name dropping Lena was something she avoided doing at all costs, despite their relationship being public knowledge, but it helped make her case here. James was the first one to crack and scratched the back of his head a bit sheepishly.

“I honestly don’t know Kara, there was a rumor going around this weekend that they want to assign a permanent CEO, me and Snapper here might have gotten a bit heated about who was best suited for the position. Then we started arguing about everything it feels like and I don’t know why we got so angry though and you’re kind of in my chair,” he explained himself tumbling over his words somewhat, but Kara didn’t budge.

“I know, I kind of like it,” she admitted grinning at them both. “Nice and comfy, but this thing can’t happen again understand?” she asked pointing at them both. 

“You’re… right Danvers,” Snapper agreed almost as if coming around from some kind of daze. “I don’t know what came over me,” he admitted and offered his hand to James who graciously shook it. Something didn’t seem right, she decided, sure James and Snapper had argued before, but this had been, extreme to say the least.

“Eh, Kara my seat?” James asked and she jumped at having her train of thought interrupted and got up out of the chair. 

“Oh sorry, got lost in my train of thought there,” she fumbled around putting her glasses back on. “So no more fighting you understand and I’ll just go and you know work and maybe calm the staff down a bit more, even though it’s not really my job and you know, just behave okay,” she finished and then all but ran from the office and locked herself in the nearest supply closet. 

Breathing rapidly, she closed her eyes and slowly counted down from ten while breathing in and out and just focusing on the sound of her breathing. What had just happened, she’d become Kara Zor-El without realizing it. Getting out her phone she messaged Lena since this whole situation had felt weird. Having experience with mind control it did feel like somebody had been manipulating her friend and her boss into fighting now that she thought about it.

 _Lena, you there, I kinda did a stupid thing…_ she typed out and then closed her eyes again and breathed steadily until her phone buzzed.

 _What happened, are you alright? Do you need me to come?_ Lena replied to her throwing in a green heart emoji which was their little code if Green Lantern or Supergirl were needed. A green heart for Green Lantern and a blue one for Supergirl.

 _No, but I kind of went Zor-El on James and Snapper just now, also something weird was going on everybody was running around like they were scared or shouting at each other,_ she typed back and added a shocked smiley face.

 _Wish I could have seen that, and we’ll talk about it at home, but what you’re describing sounds like mass hysteria, did you do a full super senses sweep?_ Lena texted back with a few links to a similar phenomenon.

 _I’ll get on that, do you think they noticed? I mean I wasn’t like me at all,_ she texted feeling her heartbeat returning to normal.

_I’m sure they’ll be too confused to even think about it, but talk to James at least, he’ll cover for you and we can talk about your Zor-El moment at home later okay?_ Lena answered with a kissy face smiley and a big red heart. 

_Thanks, sorry just it felt so weird, talk to you later I’m going to do a sweep of the building,_ she wrote back and added a big red heart and ninja emoji before putting her phone down. Getting ready to leave the supply closet she realized that she didn’t have her glasses on. Shaking her head and about to put them on, but then thought why should she and left them hanging on the front of her cardigan.

Extending her senses, she started working her way through the building, nothing sounded different or looked different, but it smelled weird. Sniffing a few times, she followed the scent trail down the stairs and into the basement. Finding a janitor huddled in a corner she knelt and smiled at the man.

“Hey, it’s alright, I’m here to help,” she told him extending her hand and helping the grey-haired man to his feet. “What’s your name?” she asked and dusted him off, his face was pale, and his eyes held a look of terror.

“Charl… Charlie ma’am,” he managed to say, and she did a quick super senses check of his vitals and found that his heart rate was very high, but otherwise, he was fine.

“Hi Charlie, I’m Kara, now I want you to breathe with me alright?” she asked him, and he nodded. “Close your eyes, and just focus on breathing in and out,” she told him softly and after a few breaths, his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

“Thank you,” he told her still clearly shaken, but much calmer now as he looked around in the same way Snapper had. “What… what happened?” he asked.

“I’m trying to figure that out, do you remember anything?” she asked him while looking around for anything that could explain what could have caused the building-wide panic she’d witnessed.

“I remember this noise, like nails on a chalkboard, then an explosion coming from the old boiler room followed by this strong sense of fear and anger,” he admitted starting to shake at the memory. 

“Hey, it’s alright, you’re safe,” she told him acting like Supergirl even though she wasn’t in uniform. “You go upstairs, and I’ll check out the boiler room,” she told him, but he shook his head.

“Can’t let you go there on your own,” he insisted, and she couldn’t help but smile at him. Humans, even when things were dire, would show these flashes of compassion and bravery that would never stop to amaze her.

“Fine, but stay behind me alright? I’m tougher than I look,” she told him with a wink and together they made they’re through clutter filled corridors they came to the old boiler room and with the door was jammed shut when they tried to open up.

“It wasn’t like that before,” Charlie told her jiggling the handle to the heavy metal door and it wouldn’t budge. “It feels like it’s been welded shut from the inside,” he nervously concluded.

“Here, let me, what’s this room used for?” she asked and stepped in putting both hands on the handle. It took some effort to force it open, but it came loose with a loud creaking sound.

“Wow you are tougher than you look!” the janitor observed, and she just flashed him another smile before stepping into the room. “It used to be the boiler room, but it was refitted to house the scrubbers for the air condition system a while back,” he explained and the smell was the strongest here, it smelled like extra burned toast and there was a dark circle burned into the floor. 

“What is that?” he asked holding his mouth and nose because the smell was actually quite overwhelming. 

“I don’t know Charlie,” she said kneeling and running her fingers over the black circle picking up some kind of black soot. Rubbing the black residue between her fingers she sniffed it and gagged a bit. “But I intend to find out,” she told him firmly. Something or someone had been here and she intended to find out what or who.

* * *

When Lena came home after an unfruitful day in meetings and later in the L-Corp labs, she found her girlfriend already in their home lab, it had been her secret lab until Kara had sweetly asked for a bit of space of her own and now half the lab was strewn with pieces of Kryptonian technology and whiteboards covered in distinctly Kryptonian script. The blonde was tapping a marker against one of her whiteboards while chewing on the arm of her glasses and on the workbench was a vial of some kind of black residue. 

“Stop gawking and get your butt over here,” the blonde spoke without turning around and chuckling she made her way over to the bench and picked up the small vial.

“Carbon residue, it was all over the CatCo. boiler room,” Kara explained and drew what looked like teleportation vectors on the whiteboard. 

“And you think that somebody teleported in?” she asked, putting the vial down before stepping up behind to her girlfriend who was in full investigation mode. 

“Or something self-destructed, haven’t figured that part out yet, but everyone reported feeling an overwhelming sense of rage or fear, James was about to strangle Snapper when I found them,” the hero explained pinching her nose.

“That sounds worryingly familiar,” she concluded and put her hands on the taller woman’s shoulders and started gently rubbing them while scanning the notes slowly deciphering Kara’s Kryptonian scribbles. 

“We destroyed the red ring though and the yellow rings are all accounted for now, plus those only work when they're on a person,” Kara concluded and leaned back against her touch.

“You think this is something new?” she asked and wrapped her arms around the blonde’s strong shoulders, nuzzling against her maim of blonde hair.

“Hard to tell, the old boiler room had some scrubbers for the air conditioning, so it could have been airborne, but whatever it was it felt... wrong, like it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it, didn’t feel like when I wore the red ring either, this was… icky,” the blonde concluded putting her glasses back on and placing the marker on the whiteboard.

“Icky?” she laughed, and she felt Kara’s body shake a bit as the blonde laughed with her and then turned around. 

“Hey! Icky is a very well researched conclusion I’ll have you know,” the blonde insisted and leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips. “Oh, I’m being so rude, welcome home,” she said with her blue eyes drawing her in like they always did before she kissed her back.

“Oh, Problem-solving is never rude,” she laughed and running her fingers over Kara’s exposed arms as the blonde usually changed straight into comfy pants and a tank top whenever she got home. “But you need a bit of a break, so come to the living room and tell me about your Zor-El moment?” she asked and the blonde groaned but followed her.

Sitting down on the couch she took Kara’s hands in hers and gently rubbed them while she waited for the blonde hero to open up. This wasn’t their first talk about this, but recently Kara had been breaking down the walls between what they called her Danvers and Zor-El sides more and more. The majestic and commanding daughter of Krypton bleeding into the somewhat shy and bumbling reporter persona of Kara Danvers.

“I just…” the blonde started and then stopped. “I hate not being able to do just be me, as Supergirl people listen to me and when I put James and Snapper in their place today it felt so good,” she explained looking a bit embarrassed.

Sometimes Lena wanted to find whoever had told Kara that she’d had to hide who she was and what she could do and give them a piece of her mind. On a logical level, she understood the need for a secret identity, hell she had one. Yet her more irrational side that loved this woman so much that it scared her, that side of her sometimes wanted to take Eliza, Jeremiah wherever he was, and Superman by the neck and shake them. 

“Don’t be embarrassed,” she said slipping into Kryptonian and as always it made Kara smile. “You are strong and proud, and you shouldn’t feel any shame for asserting yourself,” she stated firmly and leaned in so their foreheads touched.

“What if I out myself? I know I’m already out, Bi-pride and all that, but you know as Supergirl?” Kara asked in a whisper raising her fist in a tiny salute. 

“It wouldn’t be the end of the world, I know you’re scared about what could happen to your friends and family if anybody ever finds out, but that doesn’t mean you just lock up half of who you are. You can still be Kara Danvers large and in charge, you know,” she tried to put the blonde’s mind at ease, but she’d never been the best at relationships or giving pep-talks.

“Whenever I do it, just let myself be me I mean, it feels so good, like super good and not like when I got exposed to red kryptonite either. I feel like I could do so much more, ugh why am I like this?” the blonde grumbled and squeezed her hands into fists.

“If one of my many therapists is to be believed, it's all down to our parents, Eliza and Jeremiah did their best, but they were driven by their own fears and faults. Just like Lionel and Lillian probably did what they thought was best for me, but it’s our job to overcome all that,” she declared, and Kara smiled a bit. 

“So you be whoever you want to be, but know that I support you in whatever you do because, in the end, the choice has to be yours,” she went and was rewarded with a bone-crushing hug from the blonde Kryptonian. 

“I’ve got the best girlfriend in the universe, but can I ask you one thing then we go back to gooey relationship stuff. Is there isn't any truth to the rumor about a new CEO at CatCo?” Kara asked now in reporter mode. “With you being the owner and all, you should know right?” 

“No, but somebody could be stirring the pot by spreading rumors. Why, do you want the job? Because I’m sure you could convince me to promote you, nepotism and all that” she asked teasingly, and Kara’s eyes went wide as she straddled the blonde set on getting her revenge for this morning. “So, Miss Danvers, do you want the job?” she went on and the look in those blue eyes made her shiver as she pulled up Kara’s tank-top exposing rippling abs of steel and perky breasts.

“Miss Luthor, that you would even… suggest… such a thing,” the blonde reporter exclaimed in mock shock as Lena ran her fingers over tan and warm skin cupping the girl of steel's breasts. Meanwhile, said girl, was already undoing her blouse one button at a time before giving up and yanking it open.

“The nerve…” Kara then giggled before leaning in and kissing the top of her breasts which made her shiver and before long, she was sure she would have given the reporter anything. But all that Kara asked for was to be hers.


	2. Long Time Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara has a long talk with Clark while Lena hires a new assistant all in a day's work that ends with a work-out session in the Luthor-Danvers home gym

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this happened on Instagram (behind the scenes of the new suit for Season 5) and I couldn't be happier: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz83OBUHBU9 and hell yes I will be using it since well, I already gave Kara a new suit in Mirror Images.

Kara squeezed her fist tighter and tighter, increasing the pressure on the piece of coal she held there. Having found an abandoned mine in the mountains near National City, she’d been coming here every few days to work on her super-secret Lena project. The heat against her palm and the loud cracking noise told her that the pressure had done its job and she opened her fist. Laying in the palm of her hand was a small diamond, nearly flawless, but not quite what she needed, sighing she threw it on the pile with the others. 

Having decided while sitting by Lena’s bedside for days after their fight with Sinestro that she’d make an honest woman out of the raven-haired beauty, she’d started coming here to work on the bracelets Kryptonian customs dictated she should present to her beloved. But it was slow work, and the three diamonds required for each of the bridal bracelets weren’t forming like she wanted them to, which is why she’d caved and called for back-up and anyways it was time to have an awkward talk with her cousin, again.

The rush of air signaled the arrival of Kal-El, not dressed as Superman but in a pair of well-worn jeans and a red checkered flannel shirt like he was out here for a hike. She’d worn something similar, jean shorts with a short-sleeve red shirt, and hiking boots. As Lena would say; Kryptonians were always on-brand.

“Kal,” she greeted him and threw him a lump of coal which he caught without much effort. “Glad you came,” she smiled when he looked at her in confusion. Messing with Kal was sometimes too much fun. 

“Taking up prospecting as a hobby?” he asked, throwing the lump of coal up in the air and catching it again.

“Not quite, but you’re better at making diamonds than I am and I need your help,” she said, hoping that he would get the hint as she picked up another coal piece and tossed it back and forth between her hands. 

“Diamonds? Why would you be making…” he trailed off as she could hear the wheels in his head turning. “Oh, it's gotten that serious has it?” he asked as it dawned on him why she needed diamonds, sounding almost neutral about it, but the but she's a Luthor hung unspoken between them.

“Kal, she saved the city, Rao she saved the world, and I’ve been living with her for months!” she exclaimed and squeezed the piece of coal too hard, causing it to explode into fine black powder. “Do I have to fly you to Mars again?” she asked giving her cousin a pointed look, Kal meant well, he always did, but the man could be dense as the center of a neutron star sometimes. 

“No, but don’t you think it’s a bit soon? You don’t have to rush into anything,” he argued, closing his fist around the lump of coal she’d thrown to him and slowly crushing it together. 

“I’m not rushing, and I’m not going to dance around this, you know like you did with Lois for what was it five years?” she said, shaking her head because here they went again. Again, she’d left her glasses at home while Kal still wore his, she was getting just a little bit tired of always hiding behind them.

“Lois was different, but you told me you wanted her to join the House of El, that’s different, it could expose both of you, that pin you gave her was bad enough,” her cousins defended his long courtship, which was kind of dorkily romantic, but she could never take that long with Lena. 

“Ugh! Lena isn't some damsel in distress and don’t you ever get tired of hiding Kal?” she asked her cousin destroying another piece of coal and he just gave her yet another confused look at her sudden outburst as it caused him to crush the lump of coal he’d been holding to smithereens. 

“It’s not hiding, it’s who I am,” he said after a moment of thought dusting off his hands and picking up another piece of coal. 

“Well it’s not who I am, I want to embrace being Kara Zor-El, and I want Lena to carry that name too,” she said, feeling her voice rising and her passions flaring. Closing her eyes and taking a few breaths, she centered herself, because getting angry wouldn’t help right now. Opening her eyes, she saw that Kal was giving her that understanding look that he’d perfected over the years, even if he didn’t fully understand what she was going through. 

“Kara, I might not remember Krypton as you do,” he said, sitting down on a boulder and slowly squeezing the coal in his hand. “I don’t have the memories, just what the crystals and you have told me, but I do understand from a certain point of view wanting to be Kara Zor-El and for Lena to be of the House of El, I just can’t agree with you, yet at least. There has been too much bad blood between our houses,” he admitted sounding almost sad that this kept coming between them as of late.

Sighing, she sat down next to him, realizing that they were both what their adoptive parents and circumstance had made them after all, so she couldn't fault him too much for how he acted. Still, it could be so frustrating that the only other Kryptonian in the universe didn’t understand her at times.

“Lena isn’t Lex, I thought we’d agreed on that on Mars, right?” she asked, putting her arm around his shoulders.

“I know, but what he did, it’s hard to separate the two and regardless of her family what you’re doing could change things in ways neither of us can foresee,” he said and looked at her with the lenses of his glasses making his boyish blue eyes appear larger.

“Maybe they need to change,” she said firmly and kissed his cheek before smiling. “You’re my baby cousin and I love you, but you’re kinda stubborn,” she chuckled and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Pot meet kettle,” he laughed, and it felt good to be here like this, just the two of them, the last of their kind bonding over their shared quirks. Opening his fist, he showed her the diamond he’d made, and it was perfect. “You’re braver than me Kara, and if this is what you want, well I can’t really stand in your way, can I?” he admitted.

“Because I’d kick your butt?” she teased him and picked up the diamond looking at the light fracturing inside of it. 

“Yes, but that’s not why. It's because despite my reservations I’ve seen how Lena looks at you and I might be nothing more than a farm boy from Kansas, but I know love when I see it. That girl looks at you in the same way Ma used to look at Pa,” he explained and picked up another piece of coal. “So how many do you need for the bracelets?” he asked shaking away the last lingering memories of his parents and of Lex and smiling.

“Six, three for each of her bracelets, but mine won’t have any gems in them since I’m the suitor,” she told him and felt herself smiling at the thought of Lena wearing them. 

“Five more coming up then,” he said with small smile squeezing his fist together. “It's all about patience and pressure you know, you need to build it up slowly, it's just like building a barn really,” he explained the process to her. 

“You’re such a farm boy,” she teased him, but in a way, he was right, she was often impulsive, and while that served her well at times, she knew that you couldn’t always charge headlong into things. Proposing to Lena however required charging headlong into it, because if she thought about it too much, she started to feel panicky. 

“And I’m sorry if whatever I have done throughout the years has made you feel like you have to hide who you are,” he said then and put his arm around her shoulders. 

“Somebody told me a few months ago never to say you’re sorry, so how about we both stop that and just promise each other to do better moving forward?” she asked and tried to emulate his method of crushing coal into diamond. 

“I can do that,” he smiled and looked at her fist. “Slowly, no so fast, you have to ease the atoms together and slowly increase the pressure,” he instructed her and right there and then, at that moment, it felt kind of nice just spending time with him, with no unspoken regrets or Luthor memories hanging over them like tiny dark clouds. Clark was family after all, granted it was a weird, annoying and stubborn family, but she knew no matter what he would support her, even if he didn’t fully understand her motives.

* * *

In the underground laboratory beneath the National City Towers, wearing a white lab-coat over her black skirt and red top, Lena was halfway inside the chamber of their fusion reactor tightening the bolts holding one of the nine lasers that would blast the fuel pellet and hopefully induce fusion. That was if they could make the damn thing stop burning out after thirty seconds of sustain power.

What was annoying her even more, was that she had the power to this herself within her grasp. It would be so easy to focus her willpower and generate the heat needed with her ring. Without realizing it, her left hand flared with emerald flames, and she had to shake it to put it out. This is new, she thought and examined her hand with curiosity. Usually, errand thoughts didn’t trigger her ring, but this hadn’t been the ring’s doing, this had been whatever burned inside her ever since the Guardians had proclaimed her Torchbearer to fight Sinestro. 

“Miss Luthor, I’ve got Cassandra Cain here to see you,” Jess called out before she could give it more thought and she jumped slightly in surprise almost banging her head. Backing out of the reactor as gracefully as she could manage and getting to her feet, she dusted herself off. Next to Jess stood a woman she recognized from the files as Cassandra Cain, the striking woman didn’t look to be much older than twenty-three and wore a form-fitting black dress that came down to her ankles with a high slit up the side and wore just the slightest of heels.

“Miss Cain,” she greeted her and offered her hand to the girl who took it, and her grip was strong and firm. “Thank you for coming,” she said as Cassandra nodded.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Bruce, I mean Mister Wayne speaks very highly of you,” Cassandra said in a quiet but steady voice. “Though this is not where I expected to be interviewed,” she then admitted flashing a small smile.

“I got caught up, so it’s a good thing Jess decided to bring you down here, because if I’m missing this is where I can usually be found,” she apologized and started taking her lab-coat off. 

“This is part of your Better Tomorrow Initiative for National City, right?” the young woman asked and placed her hand on the fusion reactors outer shell. 

“Yes, if we can get it to work it will be able to power most of the city, almost for free, but your background is in linguistics and business management isn’t it?” she asked folding the lab-coat over her arm and studied the woman. Cassandra Cain was slender and lithe, about an inch taller than herself, but she carried herself with the grace of a trained dancer and had the body of one too. Feeling a bit guilty about enjoying the view sort to speak, she hoped that Kara didn’t have any mind-reading powers she wasn’t aware of yet. 

“Yes, and I make a mean gin and tonic, the side-effect of working for Mister Wayne,” the quite voiced woman joked, and she couldn’t help but chuckle in response. 

“How about we take this up to my office and…” she said but before she could finish a part of the reactor that had been shaken loose during the last test came loose and fell. Before she could throw up a green shield to deflect it and expose herself, Cassandra had jumped up, and roundhouse kicked the piece of metal out of the air just before it hit her head. 

“Wow!” Jess breathed with the dark-haired woman still crouched on the ground as staff came running to check up on Lena who was looking at the crouched woman with curious green eyes. Bruce Wayne was up to something that was for sure, but what exactly. Waving her staff back, she offered Cassandra her hand helped her up to her feet.

“I think you just got the job,” she said with a grin and the quiet woman just gave a firm nod while smoothing down her dress. 

“I can start today if needed,” Cassandra offered like she'd not just roundhouse kicked something out of the air while wearing heels and a dress. Lena glanced at Jess, who just nodded while tapping away on her tablet to clear up time in their schedules and blast out a company-wide memo that the reactor was fine. 

After a quick interview in her office, she’d sent Jess off with Cassandra to familiarize the roundhouse kicking young woman with the ins and out of her job when a rustling sound signaled the arrival of Supergirl flying in from the balcony. Nowadays, she always left the balcony doors open for when Kara wanted to drop in, in either identity. 

“What’s this about you almost being crushed by falling debris?” Kara asked her striding across her office in all her Supergirl glory. Wearing a modified version of the royal blue armored suit they’d created together a few months ago the crimson cape flowed behind the blonde hero and heavy red boots tapped against the floor. The old suit now hung in their home lab, and as much as she loved the red skirted original, pants were more practical and allowed for, in Kara’s words, more high-kicking action. 

“News travels fast, or have you been cultivating sources in my company again? It was just a piece of the rector that had come loose, my new assistant averted disaster before I could take care of it,” she waved it off, but Kara wasn’t having any of it.

“I was taking care of some things so I couldn’t come right away, now let me look at you,” the blonde hero gently insisted running her hands and eyes over her.

“You sure you didn’t fly all the way here just to cop a feel?” she couldn’t resist teasing her girlfriend just a little bit.

“Maybe later, but you seem fine, so who is your new assistant?” Kara asked after running her fingers through Lena’s hair and not finding any bumps was seemingly satisfied.

“She’s sitting at Jess’s old desk, go on take a look,” she said waving towards the sanded glass doors and sat down at her desk as Kara peered her eyes like she sometimes did whenever she was focusing on something with her various vision powers. 

“She kicked it out of the air?” the blonde asked sounding both impressed and confused, and clearly listening in on the L-Corp grapevine at the same time she was taking a peek with her X-ray vision. 

“Like a real-life ninja, I think Bruce Wayne is sending me a spy or a bodyguard I’m not sure yet,” she muttered typing up an email to the maintenance crew instructing them to overhaul the reactor casing.

“You know Clark knows him somewhat from back in the day, so I could ask him to poke around if you want,” Kara offered sitting perched on the edge of her desk and watched her work. 

“No, not yet, I don’t think she has been sent here to cause trouble,” she said and tried to focus on her work, but Kara was now sitting on her desk with her legs crossed. One downside of the change from skirt to pants was that she got to see way less skin whenever Kara visited her at work as Supergirl. 

“Doesn’t hurt that she’s pretty, looks to be in great shape too,” the blonde hero observed, and she felt her jaw fall open, had Supergirl just casually commented her new assistant being attractive? Kara’s laughter jump-started her brain before it could shut-down entirely, and she felt herself blushing. 

“The look… on your face," the blonde laughed with one hand over her mouth in a failed effort to muffle the sounds.

“How do you manage to keep surprising me?” she asked still a bit unsure about how to handle this conversation and the blonde hero just shrugged innocently. 

“Don’t worry about it and you’d have to be blind not to notice that the girl is in amazing shape,” Kara assured her and grinned. “You noticed, didn’t you?” she asked sweetly, and Lena couldn’t decide whether this was a trap or a tease.

“I may have… noticed,” she spoke carefully, and Kara’s smile grew even wider, and the heat in her cheeks grew in response. How did the blonde tease manage to do this to her? Out of all the people she’d ever been with, not that there had been many, Kara was the only one with the ability to make her blush.

“You’ve good taste, knew I made the right call with you,” the blonde announced and slid off the desk with her hands on her hips and a mischievous smirk on her pink lips. 

“I’m confused, am I in trouble or not?” she asked slowly feeling like Kara had just spun her around a few times at super-speed before stopping suddenly.

“You could be in trouble if you like,” Kara teased her and then mercifully let her off the hook. “Lena, relax, I trust you and in no way do I expect you to be struck blind just because we’re living together,” the blonde laughed, and she felt her shoulders relax as the tension she’d hadn’t realized she’d been holding left her.

“Is there anything you do that’s not awesome?” she asked with a relieved laugh and got to her feet giving her girlfriend a quick hug.

“I can’t cook that well or round-house kick, but I’m working on that,” Kara admitted with a grin returning the quick hug. “Just be you know, professional, what am I saying you’re like made of professional, but yeah good pick for the new assistant,” the blonde babbled a bit before being silenced by a quick kiss.

“You’re the best, now go safe kittens or something and let me work,” she insisted, and Kara raised an eyebrow and got ready to unleash the pout of doom. “I’m fine Kara,” she added and got up on her toes and kissed the blonde firmly while cupping her face with both hands. 

“Fine, but we’re going to talk about getting you hardhat at home later understood,” the blonde hero promised her before taking off through the open balcony doors. Lena got back to her desk and sat down, tapping her ring finger against her laptop, she decided to investigate Cassandra Cain’s background just a bit better. 

Opening the folder again, she ran her eyes over the woman’s history, and it was just too clean. Then it happened again her left hand flared into flames without any prompting. Turning her ring around on her right hand, she scanned herself with a green beam of light.

“Analyze and report,” she asked the ring, and she could see the veins in her hand, highlighted by a green glow.

“Vitals within normal parameters Green Lantern 2814,” the ring droned its response.

“Scan for elevated energy output,” she ordered it and then she felt a sensation of warmth rising in her chest, and a faint green glow started to emanate through her top. 

“What the…” she trailed off, pulling at the top and an emerald star shape was pulsating in the middle of her chest.

“Ring?” she asked, tracing the star-shaped mark that was glowing on her chest with one finger. “Anything?” she asked, pressing down on the bright green spot on her skin. Highly scientific analysis there Luthor she thought to herself. 

“Vitals within normal parameters Green Lantern 2814,” the ring droned again so she pulled it off her finger and the moment the ring slipped off her finger the mark spread engulfing her in a green fire causing her to rise into the air. 

The power coursed through her veins, and her vision turned to shades of green, her black hair danced with jade flames and she looked down at her hands which were now glowing with barely contained energy. 

“This is… new…” she said and took a deep breath drawing the power back inside her, slowly she descended back into her chair, and she sat down staring at her hands. During her fight with Sinestro, she’d tapped into the green flame of willpower, better name pending, but at the time she’d just thought of it as a last-ditch effort, and after her initial research she’d put it out of her mind to focus on everyday life. 

Picking up her ring again, she slipped it on, and it pulsed something it hadn’t done before unless when charging from a power battery. Now she had theories, of course, she had theories. The first theory, the Guardians had put something inside her during her visit to Oa. What with their vague declarations of her being their Torchbearer. Second theory and more worryingly, maybe this has been inside of her all her life and exposure to the ring had just awakened it. Either way, she needed answers, but before she could turn her attention fully to that task, a soothing voice in the back of her head told her that it could wait because there was work to do and she put it out of her mind again.

* * *

When Lena came home, there was a black hardhat with a red bow on it waiting for her on the kitchen island, and she could hear Kara working out in the apartment’s gym. Heavy thudding sounds echoed through the apartment as the blonde pounded away at something in the gym. Putting the hardhat on she made her way to the gym and what greeted her was a sight she’d never get tired of witnessing. Wearing nothing more than a black sports bra and tight shorts Kara was throwing punches and kicks at a patched up heavy punching bag while sweating under the red sunlamps they’d installed. Going by her and Alex’s theory, working out under red sunlight would help the blonde build speed and strength without the yellow sun cheat-codes in effect.

High kick, low kick, high kick, high kick, her girlfriend sure was flexible, and her tight ponytail swayed back and forth with each movement. It also served as a form of therapy, allowing her to vent her aggression in a controlled environment. The blonde’s muscles flexed under glistening tan skin, and she felt herself unconsciously rubbing her thighs together. By Einstein’s crazy hair, her girlfriend was a literal goddess, something she knew that she repeated endlessly to herself. 

“You know, I had you pegged as a peeker from the start,” Kara joked glancing at her and taking a pause before delivering a solid roundhouse kick to the heavy bag so stiff that it almost broke the chain it was hanging on. 

“Can you blame me, since you keep putting on such a great show?” she joked back and picked up a towel. Not for the first time and certainly not the last she allowed herself to admire the cord-like muscles that rippled underneath Kara’s glistening tan skin. Even with keeping to her workout regimen and with a little help from the power ring, she could never match the godlike shape Kara was in. Not that it was a competition, and the blonde had several times stated with great vigor and passion that she loved her curves.

“Flatterer,” Kara smirked and took the offered towel wiping herself down. “How did the new assistant do on her first day?” she asked and grabbed a bottle of water slowly draining with her head thrown back. Now the blonde was openly teasing, she thought as she gazed openly at perfection.

“I think Cassandra is going to be just fine, quiet, but fine,” she admitted as Jess’s high kicking replacement at been the very model of efficiency. “Thanks for the hardhat,” she added, taking it off and putting it on the weight rack.

“It’s my sorry about teasing you today gift,” the blonde apologized sitting down on the weight bench and stretching putting on display every single muscle in her upper body. Had her girlfriend been a little bit jealous, she wondered. What was certain, however, was that the blonde was putting on a show for her benefit. And there goes your Luthor egomania again she admonished herself. 

“I deserved it a little bit, but you Kara Danvers are way more open-minded than I ever gave you credit for,” she said, and the blonde gave a shy little smile that quickly faded for a more serious look.

“I spent thirteen years watching other couples, and it gave me a lot of ideas about what kind of a partner I’d want to be when I finally found someone,” Kara admitted standing up and walking over to her like a panther stalking its prey. “And I never wanted to be the jealous type,” she explained, towering over her barely dressed and looking her up and down like she was on the menu at their favorite restaurant.

“Why… why… are you looking at me like that?” she asked, feeling her cheeks flush and her breathing getting faster. Kara could turn her insides to goo with a simple look and ever since the blonde had started embracing her Kryptonian side, well she’d become more demanding in certain areas.

“I’m enjoying the show, have I told you that I love when you wear skirts,” the blonde said with a smirk, and she felt herself spun around and those warm and strong hands were all over the back of her legs and her ass. 

“Somebody is worked up after their workout,” she teased and then gasped when Kara bent her over against the weight rack. “I wonder if it’s the adrenaline or just your…” she started but was cut off by a smack to her behind that made her jerk forward and grab onto the weights.

“Turn of that big brain of yours understood,” the blonde instructed her, pushing her skirt up and squeezing her ass with both hands. Kara Danvers was a very tactile person and a known hugger, but it was good that nobody knew about this side of her. It would shatter the illusion of the shy and sweet reporter in a heartbeat.

“Hey what are you doing back there…” she asked trying to look over her shoulder as her underwear got yanked down around her knees. Wiggling a little bit against Kara holding her bent over but giving in eventually. 

“Stop… thinking…” Kara drawled and with one hand on her back, keeping her bent over the blonde started slowly pushing one then two fingers into her from behind making her whimper and moan. “I love how you look at me, always have,” the blonde went on, and she could see the glistening woman standing behind her in the gym’s mirrors.

“Kara… god…” she could barely speak as the muscular blonde claimed her from behind, with one hand massaging her back and ass slowly and two fingers buried inside her, she arched back against the blonde’s touch. 

“By Newton’s third law you’re amazing!” she moaned out louder when Kara curled up her fingers. To her credit, she tried to get up to turn around and kiss her blonde goddess, but Kara wasn’t having any of it keeping her bent over.

“Wanted to do this to you in your office earlier,” she drawled, and her fingers sank in deep, and at superhuman speeds, she started vibrating them. “Right… there on your… big white desk…” she leaned over her whispering into her ear. Trying to resist was pointless and trying to somehow turn the tables was impossible as her Amazonian blonde girlfriend had her bent over using just a fraction of her strength. The vibrations were expertly timed, and she could hear how embarrassingly wet and aroused she was. 

“Uh….” she tried to speak, but nothing came out, but a long moan and she could see Kara’s flushed face in the mirror. It was regal, demanding, and spoke that her girlfriend was totally into this too.

“Come on miss big bad CEO… got nothing to say?” Kara teased her, wrapping a hand around her raven-black hair pulling her head upwards so she had to watch herself in the mirror being taken and then pushed her towards the edge mercilessly before she could even try to answer again. Her world exploded into stars as her body shook violently as her blonde beauty brought her to a thundering orgasm. Kara was relentless in dragging out her orgasm for as long as possible and then she felt like she was falling, but Kara was there to catch her and scooped her up in her strong arms. 

“Love… you…” she managed to groan out, and Kara kissed her hard before carrying her to the bathroom for a much-needed shower for them both. The blonde carefully and lovingly undressed her and then stripped herself of what little she wore before turning on the water. Now she was all gentle smiles and shy eyes as she carried her into the shower and under the warm spray.

“I love you too,” the blonde whispered holding her head against perky firm breasts and there again was that strong and steady heartbeat of the most generous heart she’d ever encountered.

“You’ll be the death of me,” she chuckled and felt warm fingers running through her hair.

“Don’t say that please, I just wanted to…. Oh, I don’t know! Do I need a reason to fuck my girlfriend after work?” the blonde laughed, throwing out a rare curse and put her hands on Lena’s face before going in for a slow kiss. 

“I’m not objecting,” she whispered with a stupid grin on her face as she let herself be kissed and ran her fingers all over the blonde’s rock-hard body. After a few long drawn out kisses, she reached for the soap and started to lather up those muscular arms and legs that she adored until they glistened again.

“Oooh…” Kara let out a small moan when she rubbed between her legs and with a smirk she got down on her knees. Looking up, she parted the blonde’s long legs and first kissed Kara’s bellybutton and then started gently licking at her smooth sex. Kneeling before Kara Zor-El, she went to work returning the favor from the gym and showing the blonde that two could play that game. Not possessing raw strength, she had to resort to her wily ways to take Kara. 

“Lena…. You don’t have to do that... Rao!” the blonde started to speak, but she licked teasingly at her clit to shut her up, and Kara put both hands on her head and started grinding against her mouth. Kara tasted so good she thought covering the blonde’s sex with her mouth and gently sucked, which made the blonde buck her hips wildly, with strong fingers now running through and grasping at her wet hair and muscles flexing in response to her touch.

“Just like that… please don’t stop…” Kara kept moaning as she held onto the blonde’s perfect ass to steady herself and let her girlfriend grind against her mouth. Kara was so sensitive, and she loved it, just a few flicks of the tongue, and the woman was dripping wet. Squeezing the blonde’s firm ass and giving it a spank that in reality did nothing to the girl of steel, but Kara still yelped from the sudden smack. 

“Love you, love you, love you,” the blue-eyed blonde babbled so fast you could barely make out the words with her breathing becoming ragged and looking up she could see the blonde’s head thrown back. Easing a finger into Kara’s tight entrance, she felt the familiar clench around her digit and even without superspeed, she had tricks of her own. Her girlfriend was tight, barely taking one of her fingers, but the results were near-instant, and within minutes of gently humming on her clit and stroking her tight insides, Kara was shouting at the top of her lungs in the shower praising her, Rao and Krypton’s red sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So who is messing with Lena's head, well we'll just have to wait and see right?
> 
> Also, writing smut is a lot of fun should have done this sooner!


	3. The Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara does something very impulsive as another attack on National City calls for a Green Lantern and Supergirl team up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think I've ever rewritten a chapter as often as I did this one, so enjoy that cuteness and the plot!

Kara gazed into the small box in her lap, the bracelets were completed, four reddish-golden bracelets, forged in the heart of a Pacific volcano and bent and molded into shape by her own hands. Two of them were for Lena, each set with three diamonds that reflected the red hue of the metal, the bridal bracelets they had been called back on Krypton. The other two were for her, plain and unadorned, the suitor’s bracelets, which made her the suitor. Wow really working that journalism degree there Danvers.

Truth be told they’d been ready for almost a week and once she asked Lena to put these on, it would set in motion a series of customs they’d have to observe, ending with what humans would call a marriage ceremony. Now the question remained how to ask her? Fly her to Paris? Drop the bracelets into a kale salad? So many options she thought and ran her fingers over the warm metal.

“Earth to Kara,” Alex called out, and she jumped ending up hovering a foot over her sister’s couch, oh right she was at Alex’s place, and Jess was in the kitchen making her a snack. “I was saying, when are you going to ask her?” her sister asked as she floated herself back down to the couch.

“I have no clue, but thanks again for letting me hide these here,” she said and smiled when Jess brought her a drink and a sandwich. Her sister’s girlfriend had been very understanding about her frequent visits to check up on the bracelets, and Jess had taken the so-called Danvers weirdness in stride, come to think of it Jess seemed to be at Alex’s place all the time these days.

“For my part, I think it’s a wonderful thing you’re doing for Lena,” the former assistant and now chief-operating-officer of L-Corp said sitting down on Alex’s lap. The pair were enjoying a rare day off, and she felt a little bit bad crashing in on them like this while she was supposed to be at work herself, but a Supergirl emergency had given her the out she needed. Robbery thwarted, followed by a quick change into civilian clothes and she’d made a beeline for Alex’s place.

“It’s a lot to ask, I’m not just asking her to marry me I’m asking her to join the House of El, which up until recently was Kal-El and me, sorry Jess I meant Superman and me,” she groaned and closed the box, but then opened it again.

“Lena will do anything for you, remember when she set the moon Phobos on fire to reach Earth in time to fight those slavers?” her sister reminded her and put an arm around Jess giving the woman a slight squeeze. Alex was right of course, Lena had done some pretty crazy things for her, from the filling her office with flowers to breaking the laws of physics.

“And I’ve seen the footage of her talking to you in the L-Corp lobby when Sinestro attacked, I think it’s safe to say she loves you,” Jess chimed in putting her arms around Alex. They were cute together, Kara had to admit. A relationship born out of convenience which had morphed into something uniquely them. She felt very happy for her sister and for Jess too of course.

“Thank you guys, it helps to hear that, but it still doesn’t mean I’m not nervous,” she smiled and reached over to hug them both.

“I think she’d be crazy to say anything but yes,” Alex assured her and shared a cute very un-Alex look with Jess who just nodded.

“Just got to find the right time…” she mused and opened the box again and picked up one of Lena’s would be bracelets. Before she could throw another pity party for herself about how perfect her girlfriend was the shockwave from the nearby explosion rattled the windows, and all three of their phones went off at once.

“Duty calls,” Jess said almost sounding happy that something was going on and kissed Alex on the cheek before slipping off her lap. Kara dressed in her suit with a quick superspeed dash in and out of the bathroom. “I’ll never get used to that, just the change is instant, but I do dig the pants,” Jess observed, and Alex just shrugged being quite used to it by now.

Launching herself out of the window of Alex’s apartment she used her hearing to home in on the source of the blast. People were running in the streets, and the source of the commotion seemed to be a nearby mall. A green burst of light signaled the arrival of Green Lantern, aka her girlfriend, though they weren’t officially dating as their alter-egos, though various websites disagreed. Chalk it up to the complexities of superhero life.

“Supergirl,” the green glowing hero greeted her while flying alongside her, and the changes to Lena’s uniform over the past few months were clear to see. Gone was the white coat she’d worn at the start replaced with more rugged green shoulder, elbow and knee pads. The flowing green sash was still around her hips, and in a tiny nod to their relationship and feeding conspiracy theories, there was a small House of El symbol on the buckle of the sash now. Lena was all about branding after all. The black color was also more prominent with the Green Lantern badge over her right breast glowing now. 

“GL, any idea what’s going on?” she asked, keeping it to code names, which was something they’d agreed on shortly after coming out to each other in more ways than one that morning in a hotel room in the town of Cape Hope.

“Ring picked up an energy spike consistent with teleportation. I guess that it's something similar to what happened at CatCo the other day,” the emerald warrior answered, and as the National City Mall came into view they could see people either fleeing for their lives or openly fighting in the parking lots.

“You calm people down, I’ll split up the wanna-be MMA fighters,” the Lantern called out, and she nodded landing in front of the people rushing out of the mall, and she did what she’d done at the CatCo. Putting her fingers against her lips, she blew out a sharp whistle that seemed to snap people out of whatever caused their panic. The crowd stopped their mad rush and looked around as if they didn’t know where they were. Talking to them calmly, she started directing them towards the emergency services as they arrived.

Meanwhile, she could see that Lena was pushing the more enraged ones apart with giant green hands. Then lifting them up by the back of the neck like they were misbehaving kittens and putting them into their own green private ice-hockey penalty boxes until they calmed down. The clean-up didn’t take too long, and soon she started scanning for the signs she’d seen at CatCo the other day. Flying up high, she scanned the mall and soon found a large black circle on the roof, landing carefully she sniffed, and there was that smell of burned toast again.

“Burned toast?” Lena asked, flying in to join her scanning the roof of the mall with a sweeping beam of green light.

“Yeah same smell as last time, but the circle is much bigger, so that explains the explosion I heard,” she concluded. Whatever had teleported in and out had been large enough to cause an explosion when it appeared. It also pointed to that whoever was causing these outbreaks wasn’t using a very sophisticated form of teleportation.

“What or who is causing this you think?” the emerald hero asked summoning up an entire laboratory to analyze the area. Green laptops floated in the air, and giant screens with chemical breakdowns and magnetic field strength scans hovered around them as the emerald hero summoned up a chair to sit on while she worked.

“You tell me, you’re the brains of this operation,” she shrugged and kept an eye on the emergency rescue workers while Lena worked. Glancing at her girlfriend whose eyes were narrowed in concentration despite being hidden behind a green mask and white lenses, she became keenly aware that she’d forgotten to put one of the bracelets back in the box before rushing off.

“Don’t sell yourself short Supergirl,” the raven-haired hero smiled at her dropping the facade and letting Lena Luthor shine through. Kara gulped when Lena smiled at her as she actually felt the bracelet pressing against her hip through one of the concealed pockets they’d added to her suit. The overwhelming urge to be anywhere but next to the Lena in her heroic alter-ego overtook her. It wasn’t logical, and she couldn’t explain it, yet the reality of what she was planning to do hit her like a ton of bricks.

“You… you... Keep scanning I’m going to help with the clean-up, okay bye!” she said a bit too abruptly before taking off and flying down to where the police were escorting those who had been fighting out of Green Lantern’s penalty boxes. Giving the police a hand, she gently guided an agitated and cursing soccer mom into the back of a police car. Granted she took longer than needed to help with the clean-up and was just kind of hovering above the mall when Lena came and found her afterwards.

“So, want to talk about what’s bothering you?” the emerald warrior asked her with a hand on her hip, and she didn’t really know what to say. The bracelet in her pocket felt like it weighed millions of tons, and Lena’s look of slight confusion and worry didn’t help either.

Sighing at having nothing to say she looked at Lena floating in front of her, green sash flowing in the wind, House of El crest on the buckle, her hair dancing with green fire and her eyes even though tinted by the white lenses of her mask showed her concern. Think Kara, you were rude to your girlfriend, and now you have to fix it. For Rao's sake just ask her already, her impulsive side screamed at her, and this time it won out. Time to bitch up Danvers!

“Meet me where we first met in thirty minutes, and I’ll explain everything?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound as nervous as she felt. “Please,” she added, definitely sounding as nervous as she felt now.

“My office then,” Lena nodded and smiled at her clearly remembering their first meeting. “And hey, whatever it is, I'm sure it’s nothing we can’t work through,” the raven-haired hero said, before giving her a kiss on the cheek and then took off in a blast of green flame leaving her floating in the air while her mind raced and panicked. No going back now she thought and flew off to change into something more fitting for what she was about to do.

* * *

Keeping her green glow under control Lena silently landed on the balcony of her office and let her uniform dissolve into green sparkles. Fixing her black skirt and white silk blouse, she stepped into the heels she’d left on the balcony when she took off. Kara had been in a weird mood earlier and appeared to want to be anywhere else than around her.

Letting the emerald flames flow over her hands, she conjured up a flickering image of Kara and smiled. Whatever it was it couldn’t be anything serious, maybe her girlfriend was having a rough day, or something had triggered her buried anger. Letting the flames around her hands fade away before they could be spotted, she waited by the balcony doors for Kara to arrive. Only to be surprised by a polite knock on her office door instead and her new assistant, Cassandra poked her head in with her jet black hair in a bun and wearing another one of her long form-fitting dresses.

“Miss Danvers to see you, I was told to always let her in, but she insisted on being announced,” the quiet sounding Asian woman introduced Kara and now she was worried, usually the blonde would just fly in through the balcony doors or stride into her office carrying some unhealthy snack for them to share.

“Let her in Cassandra and clear my schedule,” she said, and her assistant nodded and motioned for Kara to come in. Leaning back against her desk with her hands gripping the edge she was about to speak, but at the sight of the blonde reporter, the words wouldn’t form. Kara slowly walked into her office dressed in the exact same way she’d been the first time they’d met, in a white belted skirt and top with a pink open cardigan over it, wearing sensible heels and with her glasses on and her hair in a tight ponytail.

“Hi,” the blonde said nervously waving at her. “So, I guess you’re thinking why did she go and change or why was she all flighty today, why didn’t she just fly in on the bus, right?” she asked with a nervous chuckle and Lena nodded wanting to see where her girlfriend was going with this.

“Well, I’ve been thinking, like a lot, every day since you woke up after fighting Sinestro actually and ugh… this sounded so much smoother in my head,” the blonde reporter went on running her hands over her hair and in the process pulling up the sleeves of her cardigan, revealing a pair simple golden bracelets on each wrist. Those were new she knew from just looking at them. They hadn't been there yesterday, or in any of the boxes Kara had moved into their apartment a few months ago, she was sure of that. What was Kara trying to say, usually she could read the blonde reporter’s emotions, but they seemed to be all over the place at that moment.

“Kara, breath,” she said, smiling at the blonde despite the nervous butterflies in her stomach, but then her eyes went wide. Kara took a deep breath, looked up with a determined look in her blue eyes, walked right up to her, went down on one knee, and pulled something out of her cardigan’s inside pockets. By the fathers of physics Galileo Galilei, Sir Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein what was the blonde doing? She couldn’t be doing what it looked like she was doing, they weren’t ready, they hadn’t talked about it that much even, she had no contingency plans for this, and wasn’t this supposed to be her job? All those questions were washed away because there was Kara Danvers down on one knee, holding out a pair of reddish-golden bracelets with three sparkling diamonds in them. The blonde had never looked this nervous to her, and before she could do anything, the blonde spoke.

“Beloved Lena,” Kara began in Kryptonian looking up at her with wide open and vulnerable sapphire blue eyes twinkling behind her glasses. “As the eldest of House of El, I request your hand in union under Rao and thus joining our houses for the common good,” she went on and held out the bracelets for her to take. “Lena Kieran Luthor, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” she then asked in English, and her voice was strong, but there was a tremor to it as well. It was the last part that made her eyes tear up, however. “Please…” the blonde added with her heart on her sleeve and her soul in her eyes.

It was one of those moments that seem to stretch out towards infinity, she looked down at Kara with her beautiful perfect face looking up at her, hope shining from those luminous blue eyes and the hand holding the bracelets trembling ever so slightly. Marriage, with Kara, them together forever, god willing. In her mind, endless scenarios played out, home, family, children all with Kara. Visions of dark-haired and blue-eyed children made a tear slip down her cheek, and there really wasn’t any other answer she could give.

“Oh, you’re the sweetest….” she said getting down on her knees, so she was face to face with the blonde as an equal. “Strongest...“ she went on taking one bracelet and slipping it on her wrist feeling the warmth of the metal against her skin. “Kindest…” she took the second bracelet and slipped it on. “Most brilliant woman I’ve ever known, of course I’m saying yes,” she declared, and it took a while to register for Kara because her smile blossomed across her lips slowly like a flower.

“Can… Can… can you say that again?” the blonde stammered almost not believing what she had heard from the sounds of it.

“Kara Zor-El my answer is yes,” she said in Kryptonian taking Kara’s hands in hers. “Again, yes! I’ll marry you, you mad woman!” she laughed and squeezed hands that could crush coal into diamond.

“You said yes…” Kara whispered clearly suffering from the aftereffects of the nervous high she must have been riding for days if not weeks. Then getting to her feet in a flash and picking her up, Kara swung her around in circles. “I asked Lena Luthor to marry me, and she said yes!” she shouted loud enough so the entire floor, no the whole building, probably heard it.

“Let me down you goof!” she laughed, but Kara just shook her head and kept holding onto her, so her feet didn’t touch the ground, and she leaned into her fiancée’s embrace. Stupefying string theory she had said yes to marrying Kara, in union under Rao no less, so much for the Luthor legacy of xenophobia.

“Not a chance and I can’t believe you said yes, you’re amazing, like super amazing, I promise I’ll be the best partner and oh Rao you’re going to be my wife… I’m going to be married! We’ll be of the same House and…” Kara’s words came spilling out, and as always the best way to stop them was just to kiss her. The kiss was slow and tender, and Kara was grinning from ear to ear when she pulled back and smiled back at her wife-to-be. This, she thought this was their perfect moment.

* * *

“She said yes!” Kara shouted as she flew them in Alex’s window not long after her proposal, and the elder Danvers sister, and Jess jumped apart from their make-out sessions on the couch.

“Sorry, Jess, Alex, I tried to stop her,” Lena laughed and poked her fiancée’s shoulder. “Told you to call first,” she was laughing as Kara blushed a bright red as Alex buttoned up her shirt and Jess excused herself to the kitchen.

“But… she said yes?” Kara announced again putting her down, and Alex unable to stay mad at her impulsive sister got up and gave her a big hug.

“Proud of you Kara,” the agent said and then turned to Lena and stuck out her hand. “Welcome to the family… Lena,” she said, and Lena found herself staring at the offered hand before pulling a Kara Danvers and hugging her future sister-in-law who awkwardly patted her on the back.

“I’ll do everything in my power to be worthy of her,” she whispered into the agent’s ear, and the reply made her stomach do one of those annoying flips of unbridled happiness and joy.

“You already have,” Alex whispered back before they broke apart with Kara loudly squeeing at seeing her sister and now fiancée hugging it out.

“I guess that means Kara wears the pants in the Luthor-Danvers household then?” Jess asked with a grin bringing them champagne on a tray in plastic cups. “Sorry Alex’s kitchen isn’t the best stocked,” the former assistant apologized as an unapologetic Alex took a glass and blew her girlfriend a kiss.

“So, here is to the Danvers’ or should I say the Zor-El’s?” Alex asked, raising a plastic cup with a grin and they shared a look.

“Lena Zor-El,” she tried it out, and the look on Kara’s face was priceless. “Lena Danvers Zor-El?” she asked, and the blonde was bouncing up and down clapping her hands together with hyperactive glee.

“Let’s get on with this toast,” Jess laughed, passing out plastic cups and Lena raised her cup towards Kara who had gone oddly silent.

“To my beautiful fiancée, who never stops surprising me,” she declared and pushed out her cup and three other cups met hers with a loud cheer.

“You’ve gone quiet Kara,” Alex teased her sister who was quietly sipping at her cup now after her bombastic entrance.

“I just… she said yes,” Kara repeated and swallowed the contents of her cup before holding it out for more.

“Lena, did you break my sister?” Alex asked and Lena just smiled innocently, as this was one of the few times in her memory where Kara was at a loss for words or a babble. “Come on, let’s call mom,” Alex offered her sister and left Lena with her friend and former assistant.

“You knew?” she asked sitting down on the couch and crossing her legs as Jess poured her more champagne.

“She’s been coming around like a lost puppy for almost a week,” her assistant chuckled and put the bottle down.

“We’re going to have to put out an announcement and soon,” she sighed and suddenly, the full implications of what they were planning on doing hit her. As a very public figure, her engagement would be big news, but bracelets would be hard to explain, so that meant a ring, something worthy of Kara.

“You need to get her a ring, bracelets are cute but might be hard to explain, but they are beautiful she put a lot of work into those you know,” Jess agreed, and she wondered if her former assistant was actually a telepath as the woman inspected the bracelets and she glanced down at the sparkling diamonds.

“I’m marrying a caring, if a bit impulsive woman that’s for sure,” she leaned back on the couch and sipped the champagne slowly from a red plastic cup. In the other room, she could hear Eliza squealing on a video call, and Kara came running into the living room seconds later.

“She wants to talk to you,” the blonde exclaimed holding out the phone showing Eliza’s smiling face on the screen.

“Congratulations and welcome to the family Lena,” the Danvers matriarch waved. “Now, let me see them?” she asked, and Lena held up her bracelets to a loud aww from the woman who had so openly embraced her as Kara’s girlfriend.

“Thank you Eliza,” she managed to say with a small smile, still somewhat shy around the woman whose adoptive daughter she was going to marry.

“Call me mom, now turn me back around Kara I’ve got something to say to you young lady,” Eliza laughed before turning serious and fumbling with the phone the blonde turned it around and looked at it with wide eyes like she thought she was in trouble.

“Kara Danvers Zor-El, you treat Lena right and proper now, do you understand,” she could hear Eliza tell Kara who was nodding her head firmly with her determined face on. Feeling a pang of regret in her heart at Eliza’s words, she took a long sip from her cup. The woman was taking on the role of a parent for her, with the Luthors all either in jail or dead, it felt good that somebody was looking out for her, but it didn’t make it hurt any less knowing that no Luthor would ever do that for her.

“Of course I will,” Kara declared a bit too loudly. “I’m not stuck with her, she’s stuck with me,” the blonde said honestly and without thinking, and everybody laughed. “What it's true,” the now miffed blonde protested, and the laughter just grew louder.

Many toasts later she insisted on flying them home and as she lowered them down on their balcony in a green bubble Kara was sleepily clinging to her arm. The champagne hadn’t affected the blonde, nothing made on Earth could even give her a buzz, but the excitement of the day sure had worn the blonde dynamo out.

“Kara, we’re home,” she whispered, and Kara mumbled something against her shoulders and opened her blue eyes.

“I had this dream that I asked you to marry me and you said yes,” the blonde whispered sweetly and sleepily and then smiled.

“No dream babe, I’m stuck with you remember,” she smiled and held up her hand showing one of the bracelets.

“I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just that I know that I’m a lot sometimes,” her blonde fiancée stumbled into their apartment and sprawled out on the couch.

“You’re not a lot,” she said sitting down next to her and rubbing her knee. “So, tell me about these rituals we have to perform?” she asked, and Kara’s eyes lit up as the sleepiness left her for a moment.

“I, the suitor, have offered you the bride the bracelets so the first part is done,” she explained and sat up straighter “Next we need to go into a desert and spent three nights together under the stars and watch the sunrise each to signify our rebirth as one,” she went on.

“So, are we going camping?” she asked and smiled at her ever-excitable fiancée.

“Yep, then we need to host our houses for a feast where we exchange gifts, something symbolic of our Houses,” the now grinning blonde explained. “Finally at a full moon we need to stand together on a high peak and declare ourselves one and that’s about it, you’ll become Lena Zor-El, I mean you don’t have to take the name, I mean secret identities and all that…” the blonde nervously trailed off hiding behind her hands.

“El as short for Luthor works right?” she asked, putting her hand on Kara’s knee. “Maybe one day we can be the Zor-El’s openly,” she added while in her heart, she indeed hoped that one day the world would let them. When xenophobia didn’t force for Kara to hide behind glasses and she could throw the mask of the Green Lantern in the trash for good. 

“Always hoping for a better tomorrow, aren’t you?” Kara asked and squeezed her hand gently.

“You’re my hope for a better tomorrow Kara Zor-El,” she declared and felt Kara leaning against her shoulder.

“And you’re the willpower that drives me Lena soon-to-be Zor-El,” the blonde told her softly and damn it there she went crying again.

“Hey, what’s wrong, man I really gotta stop making you cry all the time,” the ever-gentle blonde laughed, and she smiled through the tears.

“We are so goddamn cheesy you know,” she said, leaning back on the couch pulling Kara down with her so the blonde’s head rested on her chest.

“I prefer adorably cute bordering on sickening,” Kara giggled and played with her bracelets. “I never thought I’d find this on Earth, you know,” she said and looked up.

“Find what, a human mad enough to say yes to you?” she asked stroking Kara’s hair, and those blue eyes twinkled like stars at her.

“That too, but I kind of had accepted being alone before meeting you, dating humans was hard, and then you came along and looked at me, and it was all over that day in your office, I never stood a chance,” Kara admitted and nuzzled against her shoulder.

“The very first day?” she asked and stroked that golden blonde hair gently running her fingers through it and massaging Kara’s scalp.

“Well, it didn’t sink in right away of course, but looking back, yeah you wore that red top that shows of your breasts and a tight black skirt and I was dreaming about you the next night,” her blonde beauty said with a blush creeping into her cheeks.

“I still have that outfit you know, wore it the other day remember when you came to my office and wanted to… oh what was it, oh yes bend me over my desk, I can go put it on right now if you want,” she teased and Kara laughed that deep rich laugh of hers.

“Maybe later, right now I just want to cuddle with you until the sun comes up, or we get hungry or need the bathroom,” the adorable blonde said and cuddle they did until Kara’s bottomless stomach growled at them and it was left-over pizza party time in the Luthor-Danvers soon-to-be Zor-El household.

* * *

Somewhere on National City’s sprawling waterfront a tall and skinny man stood in the shadows by the foot of a pier and waited. Every so often turning his face away when a beam of light from a passing boat would cut through the darkness. A popping sound signaled the arrival of the person he had been waiting for.

“The first two attacks were a success, but the heroes stopped the chaos we seek,” a deep voice declared from the shadows, and only a silhouette of a figure could be made out in the darkness.

“I’ll up the dosage for next time,” the tall mean rasped almost if speaking through a gas mask. “What is my next target?” he asked.

“The National City Towers, the old L-Corp building, we need a distraction, details are in the case,” the deep-voiced unseen person declared, and a briefcase slid across the pier towards the tall shadowy man.

“I’ll handle it,” the tall man said picking up the briefcase getting ready to leave.

“And if the Kryptonian shows up again at the L-Corp building, will you handle that too?” the deep voice unseen being demanded from the shadows stopping the man in his tracks.

“Chemistry doesn’t care about species,” the tall man rasped sounding almost offended at the implied suggestion that he might somehow fail.

“It better not, we’re paying you handsomely, Scarecrow! As well as providing you with teleportation tech. That reactor cannot be allowed to go online do you understand you Gotham city freak,” the voice declared with disdain at having to deal with the man, and a passing boat illuminated the tall man. Showing his face covered by a canvas sack with eye holes cut in it and the mouth slit was loosely sewn together with gas-mask respirators sticking out of the corners of it. A small popping sound signaled the departure of his mysterious benefactor.

“Uhm, guess they don’t like the light,” the villain known in Gotham city as Scarecrow observed as his deep-voiced benefactor was now gone and he too shuffled into the shadows with his payment.

Across from the pier a dark-clad figure crouched on top of shipping containers holding a pair of binoculars to her eyes. Bat like ears stuck up from the cowl of her costume and the black cowl covered her face completely. Rising up a black cape flowed down from her shoulders, and a yellow outline of a bat adorned her chest. National City’s very own Batgirl pulled a grappling hook from her yellow utility belt, shot it over to a nearby building and swung into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kara has gone down on one knee and I hope I got her outfit correctly from the first time they met on the show :) 
> 
> Next time Lena gets to do her thing because no way Kara isn't getting a big'ol engagement ring from one of the richest people on the planet.
> 
> Visual references for Scarecrow ( https://i.pinimg.com/originals/35/a6/7d/35a67db48ba0f8e07e9c1d6e517d997d.jpg ) and Batgirl ( https://i.pinimg.com/originals/18/8f/14/188f1461f49f97bda11bacf84f9ab945.jpg)


	4. Above the Fold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena goes ring shopping and engages in some highly inappropriate limo activities while on the phone with Kara.
> 
> Kara has the mother of all awkward talks with James over a glass of scotch at the CatCo offices and an attack on Lena's fusion reactor brings a new hero out of the shadows.

The news or more accurately the rumors broke less than a day later, on every website and across the front of every glossy magazine was the announcement that Lena Luthor was engaged to Kara Danvers. Kara shouting at the top of her lungs that she had proposed, and Lena had said yes probably hadn't been the wisest of moves. Thus, Lena was at an exclusive jeweler shop in downtown National City looking at engagement rings, the bracelets on her wrists already having sealed the deal, but she was old fashioned, and Kara deserved a ring. Especially if in Jess’ words: They were to silence the ravenous hordes of yellow journalists baying for their blood. 

“Maybe if you give me a price range? We could better help you narrow down your choices,” the owner suggested showing her a tray of rings, none of which seemed to be right. They’d closed the store down when she’d pulled up in her limo and strode inside, leaving only her and the owner. 

“Unlimited,” she said without looking up and looked at a diamond ring large enough to be called a rock. Kara wasn’t a dumb blonde trophy wife which meant that one was definitely out of the question. It had to be easy to conceal too seeing that the woman changed in and out of her Supergirl suit multiple times a day sometimes and a big honking ring wouldn't go unnoticed for long on the hero's hand.

“Oh, in that case” he managed to say before going into the back and pulling a selection of rings out of a safe for her to look at.

Scanning the rings, she thought again about what Kara would want, nothing too outrageous either because the woman could be so humble it bordered on infuriating. On the other hand, there was the fact that her fiancée was also Kara Zor-El, the last daughter of Krypton and probably the most regal person she’d ever met. Lena Zor-El she tried out the name again her head, Lena Danvers she also tried and both sounded good to her. Kara Luthor-Danvers also came to mind, but she torpedoed that idea she wouldn't saddle Kara with the Luthor name.

“Let me know if I can be of any assistance,” the jeweler offered in response to the silence, and she flashed him a quick smile before going back to her browsing and musings. 

One ring did draw her attention, it was a simple platinum band with a beautifully cut diamond set in it, not too small but not obscenely large either. What really drew her eye to it was the two small emeralds set on either side of the sparkling diamond. Picking it up, she looked at it with one eye closed and turned it around slowly. 

“The emeralds are half a carat each with the center stone being two carats, not the largest we have, but the clarity in the stones is outstanding,” the jeweler explained to her.

“Is it an antique?” she asked, trying the ring on her finger to get a better look at it. Thankful for having slipped her Green Lantern ring into her pocket before leaving the limo, not wanting to draw attention to it around people who spent all day looking at jewelry.

“As a matter of fact, it is, it has been in our inventory for almost thirty years,” the jeweler answered flipping through a large leather-bound ledger. “It came to us from the estate of one Alan Scott,” he said reading from the ledgers yellowed pages. 

“The price?” she asked, pulling it off her finger and handing it back to the man. The emeralds were perfect since Kara would sometimes show off her way with words by praising her green eyes. Letting her Luthor egomania take over she decided that giving the blonde the emerald stars from her eyes seemed fitting.

“Let’s take this to my office and we can negotiate the price, I think it will look good on Miss Danvers,” he said and then gave an apologetic look. “I didn’t mean to offend, but it has been unavoidable not to hear the rumors about your engagement Miss Luthor,” he added quickly, and she just shrugged, being offended was a waste of time at this point. Their engagement or rumors thereof had dominated the past news cycle with them being hailed as National City’s golden couple. The philanthropic billionaire and the crusading journalist, it made for great headlines. It was also roughly ten times worse than when she’d kissed Kara at the dedication ceremony for the National City Towers. 

Half an hour later, she walked out of the jeweler shop and slipped into the back of her limo with the ring secured in a box in her pocket. It felt very heavy in her pocket for some reason, and she adjusted her House of El pin thinking this is what Kara must have felt like for days on end. The price they'd agreed on hadn’t been too steep, not that she cared about the money. Now all she had to do was propose, again. Shaking her head, she realized that this was silly, Kara had already proposed to her, and she’d said yes. It didn’t mean she didn’t want to give her fiancée something shiny though.

Picking up her phone she scrolled through her feeds, and they were still dominated by rumors and hearsay about their engagement. Pictures of them from the dedication of National City Towers was being widely used along with a few paparazzi shots. Kara had looked amazing in her white dress that day she thought with a smile. More worrying was the fact there were paparazzi pictures since out of habit she’d gotten quite good at avoiding them and they went on most of their dates somewhere far away thanks to both of them being able to fly. Some of the pictures did look cute though. One showed them hugging outside CatCo on a day where she’d given Kara a ride to work, and another was Kara holding onto her arm in the park pointing towards a hot dog stand. 

Fishing the ring out of her pocket she opened the box and looked at it, watching the light dance in the three gems she smiled and then it happened again. Her power flared, and her hand burst into green flames. 

“Oh no, not again,” she groaned and closed her eyes, focusing on the mental image of a flickering green flame set against black space. This time it took more effort to pull the power back inside her. 

“This is getting annoying,” she said to herself and stuffed the engagement ring back into her pocket. These flare-ups were happening every few days now, and she had not found an explanation because every time she thought about it, a voice in the back of her head would tell her not to worry. Neither had she told Kara about them yet. Well maybe this weekend she could kill two birds with one stone, but then like before the memory of the flare-up faded away as she typed out a message to Kara. 

_Hey wife-to-be, how do you feel about getting out of town this weekend?_ she texted the blonde with any memory of the flare-up quickly fading like dew before the sun from her mind. 

_Is this because of all the news about us? I’m totally down for it though, work’s been a nightmare and I understand if you want to get away for a bit too_ , the reply with a big smiley face came back almost instantly.

 _A bit of both, was thinking we could go to that hotel in Cape Hope again? And what’s wrong at work?_ she texted with a winking face. Before meeting Kara she'd never used emojis, but a few months of exposure to the blonde's texts and she was using them more.

 _Feeling nostalgic, are we? I promise no big reveal this time and don’t worry about it, it's just a lot of noisy know-it-alls asking questions_ Kara typed back with an angel smiley.

 _Don’t let it get to you and do I need a reason to be in a hotel room with you?_ she replied with a winky kissy face emoji, and again her hand flared up, but she got it under control quickly. Alright maybe a bit of a big reveal was in order, whenever she felt strong emotions or was distracted the emerald flame seemed to flare up, she deduced. Again, the urgency of figuring out the causes of her flare-ups faded from her mind the moment she thought too hard about it. There was that soothing voice in the back of her mind whispering that she shouldn’t worry. Kara was also about to provide a massive distraction all by herself.

 _Good point, want me to bring anything special?_ the blonde nymph typed back and sent a picture of herself with her blouse open showing the top of her Supergirl suit underneath tucked into a pair of jeans. 

“I might have created a monster,” she chuckled to herself, not that Kara’s teasing was unwelcomed and in truth she suspected Kara had always possessed a naughty side, but had been unable to express it while being bound up by all the expectations others had of her.

 _I think you’re plenty special all by yourself and please tell me you’re in somewhere private?_ she texted and waited for the reply while her limo took her back to the office.

 _Supply closet, why don’t you want anyone else to see your fiancée like this?_ Kara texted back, and the next picture was of her innocently looking into the camera with her big blue eyes wide and her glasses off.

 _I prefer you being for my eyes only yes, I’m in the limo_ she wrote back with a grin and decided that if Kara Danvers was showing off, then she might as well return the favor. Pulling her blouse open to show amble cleavage, she sent a picture to the blonde nymph and again was very happy for the encryption algorithms they used. 

_Yummy! Have the driver take you the long way around I need to blow off some steam_ was Kara’s reply along with a picture of her pulling up the blue fabric of her costume revealing firm abdominal muscles. 

_Like what you’re seeing Miss Danvers?_ she wrote back licking her lips at the sight of Kara’s firm body. Double checking that the privacy screen was up she opened her blouse fully and adjusted her black bra before sending another snapshot.

 _Oh holy hell yes, you’re going to make me do something very naughty if you keep that up Miss future Zor-El_ the blonde wrote back with a cavalcade of emojis showing exploding heads and drops of sweat.

 _Right there at work? Oh my you’re incorrigible_ she typed and looking around quickly she pulled her breasts out of the bra and quickly sent Kara a picture of her breasts and stiff nipples, shamelessly playing to the blonde woman’s love of said breasts.

 _Said the pot to the kettle. Rao! I love your breasts and you too, of course,_ the blonde replied with a picture that was at first a bit hard to make out, but once she did, she gasped. It was Kara’s hand with one of the bracelets around its wrist stuffed down the front of the blonde’s unbuttoned jeans. 

_Love you too but be quiet please if you’re doing that_ she texted back and put her hand up her skirt holding the phone in one shaking hand.

 _I can be quiet and I wish it was your hand… do it with me_ the blonde wrote back, and she spread her legs and pulled her underwear to one side as per usual unable to say no to Kara Danvers.

 _Already am and I’d be doing a lot more than using my hand_ she typed back with an unsteady hand as she rubbed herself harder and leaned back.

 _I want you to bend me over later_ the blonde nymph typed back, and images of Kara bent over their bed looking back at her swam in her head as she shakily typed her reply.

 _You're being very bad today in a building I own no less,_ she sent to the blonde who was right this moment masturbating while technically working for her.

 _Want to treat me like I’m a bad intern Miss Luthor?_ then came up on her screen and she felt herself quivering.

 _Danvers you’ve got a lot to answer for, what with your hand down your pants while on company time_ she somehow managed to type out with just her thumb and thanked whoever invented text-prediction. 

_Miss Luthor please don’t tell on me…_ came the reply and a blushing smiley face from her blonde and very naughty fiancée. _I’ll do anything…_

_Show me what you’re doing_ she wrote back and almost dropped her phone when a short video popped up showing Kara working hard on her given task. The blonde’s face was flushed, and her breath was coming out in short little gasps as she gave a shaky and breathy whimper of "Miss Luthor!"

 _Miss Luthor… I’m so close_ popped up on her screen and another picture of Kara’s face followed, the blonde’s eyes were half closed, and her lips slightly parted. Looking down at herself with her breasts out and her hand buried between her legs, she bucked hard while fingering herself. Kara Danvers when she put her mind to it, was a terrible influence indeed. 

_Let it happen that’s an order_ she managed to type out followed by a heart as she bit down on her lower lip so not to squeal too loudly. Managing to send one last picture to Kara of herself biting her lip she came with a quiet whimper as her body jerked in the backseat of her limo while holding the phone to her chest.

 _You’re amazing_ the phone vibrated with the reply from the blonde after a moment of radio silence, and there was a picture of Kara sucking on her fingers and winking with crooked glasses back on her face. 

_You’re such a bad influence, but I love it!_ she wrote back and adjusted herself, putting the girls away and buttoning up her blouse before fixing her skirt. 

_Only on you and that was silly hot, but I must get back to my desk now, wonder if I can sneak there_ Kara replied with a sad face emoji.

 _Go for it, we’ll talk later and Kara I love you stupid much_ she texted and was rewarded with a screen full of emojis. Taking a deep breath, she swore that the blonde woman would be the death of her someday. Reaching for a water bottle, she took a long sip and shook her head. That had been a first that was for sure, she thought and made a mental note to give her driver some extra vacation days after today, just in case.

* * *

Kara stumbled out of the supply closet and adjusted her glasses, that had been risky, but she’d desperately needed the release. Ever since the rumors started swirling about their engagement she’d been mercilessly hounded by her co-workers, who big surprise were mostly journalists too, to confirm the story. Again, shouting that she’d asked Lena to marry her at the top of her lungs hadn’t been the smartest thing she’d ever done.

Playing with one of her bracelets she managed to sneakily almost make her way back to her desk, but then Snapper and Susan who wrote for the lifestyle blog turned the corner in front of her. In a panic, without thinking she dove into James’ office before they spotted her and could pelt her with questions. The brave and the bold Kara Zor-El hiding from her human coworkers, yep she was totally ready to come out as an alien to the world, she thought crouching behind the door nervously playing with her bracelets. It had been a common topic of conversation with Lena and to a degree Clark and Alex, that one day she wanted to drop the facade of Kara Danvers and just be herself. Lena was supportive, but logical about it saying that they needed to work on improving alien-human relations first, Clark simply couldn't wrap his brain around it whenever she broached the subject and Alex needed three shots of something potent before even being willing to entertain the thought.

“Ahem, is there a reason why you’re in my office?” James asked with a raised eyebrow and she jumped, oh yeah, her friend was actually in his office. Doing CEO stuff and things, good with words that was her thing for sure. 

“How long have you been sitting there?” she asked fighting back an embarrassed blush that threatened to creep up her cheeks.

“Ever since you dove in here and goofily played with your bracelets while staring into space,” he laughed and pointed to a chair in front of his desk. “Sit please,” he offered.

“I just needed somewhere quiet, I can’t even poke my head out of my office without getting swarmed,” she sighed and heavily sat down in the offered chair.

“About the rumors, or should we call it what it is and say your engagement to Lena?” he asked and leaned back with his hands clasped behind his head.

“Kryptonian engagement and I might have gotten a bit too excited,” she admitted and held up her wrists showing of her bracelets feeling herself smile despite the awkwardness.

“Well congratulations are in order then,” her friend and boss announced pulling out a bottle of scotch and two glasses from his desk. “Perry White told me always to keep a drink handy,” he answered her unasked question about why he had booze ready at hand in the office.

“James, you don’t have to pretend you’re okay with this, I’ve already had that talk with Clark,” she said, but he just poured them a drink each.

“First of all why wouldn't I be fine with this? Lena is not Lex, I’ve seen that with my own eyes,” he said walking around his desk and handing her a glass full of amber liquid before pulling up a chair to sit face to face with her.

“But we kinda dated too,” she muttered in her breath and took the offered glass, sniffing it she kind of wished that she could get drunk or that the Earth would open up and swallow her because this whole situation felt weird. After all, going from being online naughty with Lena to toasting her engagement with her ex without showing any outward sign of what you’d just been doing, couldn’t be anything but weird and awkward. Thus, despite James seeming acceptance of her engagement, she decided that this was officially the most embarrassing and awkward thing ever, but also kind of sweet.

“Water under the bridge, anyways I sort of suspected you were way more into Lena than me back then,” he offered with a casual shrug and clinked his glass against hers.

“Not helping,” she muttered, taking a sip and glaring at him. “You’re making it sound like I was using you as my beard,” she added, and to his credit, James just laughed. 

“Kara, do I think you’re being crazy impulsive about this? Yes, but I would never hold a grudge over a relationship that never even got started,” he said and sipped his drink.

“And the whole Luthor thing really doesn’t bother you?” she asked, taking a careful sip herself before nervously gulping the entire contents of the glass. James had some serious post-traumatic stress when it came to Lex after all she remembered watching him throw back his drink to match her. 

“I saw her when you got almost killed by Sinestro’s goons, the look in her eyes said all that needed to be said. She might have the name, but Lena is no Luthor, that girl is all hero,” he explained and topped them up for another round.

“In that case, can you talk to Clark for me because he doesn’t seem to see that, no matter how hard I hammer it into his thick skull,” she laughed and sipped the honestly rather nice tasting scotch. 

“I can try, but best-friend or not that man can be a bit set in his ways,” James laughed and held up his glass. “Here is to the newest member of the House of El,” he declared, and she would gladly drink to that.

“To my the fact that I have the coolest friends,” she laughed and clinked her glass against his before draining it in one gulp. 

“And I’m always here for you, even though you seem to want to take my job sometimes,” he teased her, and she shrugged holding out her glass for more.

“As funny as it would be, I’d make a horrible CEO, I’m barely here as is, I mean… oh you know what I mean,” she just groaned, and James filled her glass up again with a knowing grin.

“You do amazing work Kara, and as long as I’m acting CEO of CatCo, you’ll always have a job here, no matter how much your alter-ego gets in the way,” he promised her, and she wanted to hug him but settled for lightly punching him in the shoulder instead.

“Speaking of alter-egos has yours heard anything at street level, we’ve had two cases of mass hysteria popping up lately, and that can never be a good thing,” she asked, leaning in and lowering her voice.

“There has been something going on at the docks, but nothing that fits what happened here. I’ve heard rumblings about a giant bat kicking some well-deserving heads in,” he answered and looked up over her head to make sure nobody was loitering outside his door.

“Aren’t bats more of a Gotham thing?” she asked taking another sip of the amber-colored scotch, and even though it didn’t affect her it did give her a nice warm feeling.

“Exactly, why would a bat vigilante show up in National City?” he asked, draining his glass with a satisfied ah sound. 

“Maybe I should look into, would be a good story don’t you think?” she asked and winked at him which for some reason made him laugh, why did people always laugh at her wink?

“I’ll clear it with Snapper,” he said, taking the glass from her and putting the bottle and glasses back in their hiding place.

“Great, I’ll poke around the docks and see what I can turn up and James,” she said as he turned to look at her, and she gave him a smile. “Thanks for being so understanding, I know when we dated it was a bit of a disaster, no make it a massive disaster, but Lena wasn’t even on my radar back then,” she apologized, and it was almost correct, she’d noticed Lena the first time they’d met, but it had taken a bit of a push for her to realize how deep that attraction ran.

“Like I said it’s water under the bridge and if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me,” he simply said with a smile and this time she did go in for the hug. 

“Humans… need air…” he squeaked as she squeezed him too tight and almost lifted him up of the floor. Putting him back down she again punched him in the shoulder and smiled before beating a hasty retreat to her desk. Getting out of the building was just what the doctor ordered and sniffing around the docks would be way more fun than hiding like a scared rabbit behind her desk. Kara Zor-El the brave and the bold running from the human co-workers, the plan for coming out clearly needed more work.

* * *

Lena watched through the tinted safety goggles covering her eyes as they fired up the reactor for their latest test run, next to her Cassandra stood with a tablet in her hand and the goggles on her face looked very much out of place. Her new assistant looked like a black lotus flower in a sea of white lab-coats, she thought as the chamber started to shake. They’d reinforced it with Kara’s alloy, and it seemed to be holding. In the end, the brainy Kryptonian blonde had also given her some ideas for better laser optimization and today they were testing those out too. 

“Fire up laser array number two,” she ordered, and a researcher flicked a switch, and the chamber started rumbling louder as the energy output rose steadily. The goal was to get out more power than they were putting in once they obtained sustainable fusion .

“Array two holding and temperature is rising,” the researcher reported, and she tapped her ring against her leg nervously. Ready to shield everybody in case this went badly, secret identity be damned. Not that it should come to that since the reinforced control room was of course designed to withstand an explosion greater than the reactor could ever produce if things went wrong. She'd ran the math on it thousands of times after all and even gotten Kara to grade her work.

“The reactor chamber's integrity is holding Miss Luthor, your mysterious friend’s alloy seems to have done the trick,” another researcher, a red-headed woman reported, and she glanced at the power read-outs. So far, so good she thought offering up a quick prayer to the laws of thermal dynamics while fighting back a smile of pride at just how damn smart Kara could be. She put her hand against the glass separating them from the reactor as it was rumbling loudly now, but it was within limits. Glancing at her ring and then at the researcher standing by the switches she gave a firm nod.

“Fire up array number three,” she ordered, and the switch was thrown, and now the glass they were standing behind started shaking in earnest along with everything in the lab itself.

“Energy output in the chambers is rising, we’ll reach fusion in thirty seconds,” the redhead reported, and she pressed her hand against the glass trying to will the reactor to work. 

“Ma’am, there is a disturbance in the lobby,” Cassandra said from behind her and handed her a tablet showing the lobby shrouded by thick smoke. 

“We can’t stop now, alert security and…” she started to say, but then the entire building shook, and the camera feed on Cassandra’s tablet was cut off. Then everything went dark in the control room and the reactor powered down with a low whine. 

“Everybody, stay calm,” she shouted, grabbing a flashlight stowed under one of the workstations’ for emergencies. Looking around the control room and shining the flashlight around it, she noted that the reactor had stopped rumbling and that Cassandra was nowhere to be found. Think Luthor, you can’t use your ring without exposing yourself, and you got frightened staff to take care off she thought, and then the red emergency lights came on. 

“Alright, let’s move towards the stairs, leave everything behind and move,” she started herding the dozen or so personal towards the stairs. “Has anyone seen Cassandra?” she asked and was met with head shakes and nos. 

“Get upstairs through the stairwell and wait for help, I’m going to find her,” she instructed them, and once they were out of sight, she turned her ring around. “Locate Cassandra Cain,” she ordered it.

“Cassandra Cain cannot be located at this time,” the ring droned, and that couldn’t be right the woman had to be in here somewhere. “Teleportation incoming,” it then warned her as a loud explosion shook the entire laboratory throwing her to the ground.

“What the…” she let the ring’s green aura cover herself but didn’t materialize her uniform in case somebody decided to come back for her. A group of people in black tactical gear had appeared in her lab and were swarming all over the reactor. Quickly she pointed her hand towards the doors leading to the stairwell and visualizing it from the other side she barricaded it with a glowing green brick wall to keep people out.

“Grab only what’s on the list, we’re after the reinforcement alloy and the lasers themselves and then set the explosives, we have five, ten minutes tops,” a man she identified as the leader spoke from behind a mask, she was about to blast her way through the glass separating her from the reactor when a black gauntleted hand covered her ring. 

Turning to the side she came face to face with a cowled and bat-eared face holding a finger to her lips. The owner of the face was definitely female, easily noticeable by the swell of the costume's chest underneath a yellow outline of a bat. The suit was skin tight kevlar, she could see a yellow utility belt around slender hips and the mask completely covered the woman's face she observed.

“And you are?” she whispered and allowed herself to be pulled down out of sight behind a console. The Batgirl for lack of a better term just tapped her ears through her cowl, and she listened.

“The Institution wants only the parts that are designed by Luthor’s mysterious researcher, how the bitch got her hand on Kryptonian tech specs is something they’re very curious about,” the leader ordered his men and the Batgirl raised an eyebrow.

“Long story,” she whispered and peered up over a console as the team that had teleported into her lab stripped her reactor. Seemingly having heard what she came for, the Batgirl rose to her feet and blasted through the control room's window with a grappling hook catching the leader square in the chest. The sound of glass shattering echoing in the lab as she cursed under her breath and made a fist with her ring hand. Why did people keeping breaking her things?

“We’ve been made, abort!” a masked minion shouted tabbing furiously at a small tablet attached to his arm. “I need two more minutes,” someone else shouted from inside the reactor. She watched the Batgirl dive into action through the broken window and before even touching down on the woman was a flurry of kicks and punches. Squeezing her fist tighter she allowed her green flame to flare up as she rose up and she blasted three of the high-tech goons back with glowing green boxing gloves straight to the chest.

“You’ve got a lot less than that,” she announced with barely contained fury tripping from her voice and floated through the shattered window not even bothering to suit-up, instead letting her eyes glow with menacing emerald fire

“Open fire! Take the Lantern out first!” the leader shouted pulling himself up after being blasted by the Batgirl’s grappling hook and a hail of bullets melted away against her green shield as she waved her hand disdainfully in the shooters' direction. Floating green tools dismantled their guns in the blink of an eye before she blasted them backward with a tidal wave of green energy and straight into the waiting fists of the Batgirl who gave her a quick grin barely visible through her mask before cracking their heads together with a satisfying thud.

“You dare come to my lab, steal my tech and put my employees at risk?” she raged as she wrapped green tendrils around the leader and lifted him up from the ground. No fancy green gizmos or boxing gloves this time, she was pissed off, being shot at did that to her and she wanted answers.

“You’re going to tell me who is the Institution and what they want with my tech,” she demanded as she glided right up to his face while behind her the Batgirl was cutting a wide swath through the dozen or so Institution henchmen that were having the very definition of a bad day. Sounds of snapping bones and loud grunts as fast-moving gauntleted fists met flesh rang out in the lab, followed by the sounds of bodies hitting the floor with heavy thuds followed by screams of “Stay back!” rang out behind her. The masked hero seemed to have endless ways of inflicting pain and suffering using simply her hands and feet as she made quick work of the Institution’s henchmen. 

“We are the future, the darkness is coming and you can't stop it,” their leader spat at her and before she could stop him a loud explosion signaled teleportation and she was blown backward, coming to a stop in an undignified heap against a research station.

“By Bell's fucking inequality, who were those guys?” she cursed and got to her feet. “Bat… girl?” she called out unsure if that was even the cowled woman’s code-name and looked around, but there was no sign of the cowled hero or the would-be tech thieves. Only black circles on the ground marking where they’d teleported out. Loud crashing sounds then echoed across the lab and Supergirl blasted her way in through the elevator's reinforced doors looking ready for a fight and looking a bit confused when there wasn’t one.

“Miss Luthor?” the blonde hero called out floating in mid-air and keeping in character despite the apparent note of concern in her voice. "Lena you in here?" she called out again.

“Over here Supergirl,” she shouted back and started looking at the circular burn marks on the floor where the fallen Institution minions had been laying. The unconscious bodies were all gone along with whatever tech they could grab. This little heist would set them back for sure, weeks if not months, but at least she's stopped them from triggering their explosives and doing even more damage. 

“What happened?” Kara asked flying over to her and kneeling while quickly brushing a hand across her cheek in a show of concern and affection, which made her smile a little.

“A lot, but first what was going on upstairs? Is my staff alright?” she asked and picked up a throwing-star shaped like the symbol on the Batgirl’s chest. One could almost call it a bat-a-rang or a bat-shuriken.

“Some type of gas that was making everybody running in fear, much like what we saw at the National City Mall and CatCo. I took care of it along with Guardian, what about down here?” the blonde hero asked looking at the bat-a-rang with narrowed eyes.

“A group of teleporting thieves from something called the Institution came to strip and destroy the reactor, but as stupid as it sounds a Batgirl showed up and... Oh, shit Cassandra,” she exclaimed, letting her green flames flare up again and tossing her superhero fiancée the bat-a-rang, ready to blast off to find her assistant.

“Don’t worry, relax she’s upstairs, found her in the elevator shaft before I came for you,” Kara told her putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “But that is odd because Ja… Guardian literally just told me that he’d been hearing whispers about a giant bat prowling the docks,” Kara mused turning the bat-shaped piece of metal over in her hands and testing the sharpness with the tip of her finger, not that it could make a dent in her skin that was like steel.

“Whoever she is, she tried to help,” she concluded and got to her feet turning her ring back around. “We’ll work on this new development at home, maybe get the team over for pizza, but I think it’s time you rescue me, don’t you?” she asked and held out her arms for Kara to pick her up. 

“You know I kinda miss, you know actually saving you,” the blonde hero admitted and picked her up in one fluid motion.

“Well you’ll get your just rewards later regardless if the rescue is real or not,” she said with a teasing smirk before kissing her fiancée on the cheek.

“Wait! Are you telling me that I could have gotten rewards from the start?” the blonde asked almost if realizing she’d missed out on a lot of rescue kisses from a grateful Lena Luthor before they had even thought about getting together.

“Mhmm, but up, up and away now, we’ve got media to face,” she chuckled and wrapped her arms around the hero’s neck. Supergirl looking slightly miffed at having discovered a massive kisses deficit gave a firm nod and flew them up the elevator shaft towards daylight and the waiting chaos of media and rescue workers upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus we have a big bad or at least a bit more plot 
> 
> As for updates, the plan is for roughly a chapter a week until the summer holidays are over sometimes in August
> 
> Right now I've got the next 3 or so chapters drafted, but they need way polish before posting (dyslexia sucks) and I'm trying not to be inconsistent with the story elements from chapter to chapter


	5. Return to Cape Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena deals with a singing Kara on a road trip to Cape Hope before her old friends Murphy and his law show up
> 
> Meanwhile, in National City, James "Guardian" Olsen encounters the city's newest caped hero and learns you don't tug on capes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Live from the beach it's a new chapter!

The white scarf around Kara’s neck fluttered behind her as they drove towards Cape Hope on a sunny Friday afternoon. Lena was finding it hard to keep her eyes on the road because she kept glancing at her blonde fiancée as the reporter sang at the top of her lungs along with their driving playlist. The green convertible’s engine roared as she sped up and the small coastal town of Cape Hope came into view in front of them. It had been there, not so long ago that they’d revealed themselves to each other as Supergirl and Green Lantern and now she was taking Kara back to asks her to marry her. Glancing at the bracelets adorning her wrists she thought how silly that notion was, Kara had already proposed to her in the sweetest and dorkiest way possible, but the blonde deserved her moment too. 

“And I will always… love youuuuu!” Kara sang the top of her lungs as she threw her hands up towards the sky her voice going to so high that she didn’t even hear the final note.

“I should take you on more road trips,” she laughed, and the blonde beauty in her red dress with a white scarf around her neck simply smiled her bright and beautiful smile back at her in return. 

“I would gladly spend the rest of my days traveling with you,” Kara declared and turned up down the music a little bit as the next song came on. 

“We’re on course for the whole rest of our days part already, aren’t we? Together in all things, right?” she asked and reached down to take Kara’s hand in hers, pressing their bracelets together. 

“Stop being so gosh darn sweet and cheesy, I’m the journalist, and I do words good remember,” the blonde laughed and squeezed her hand in return.

“I know, and that article about the attack on L-Corp was all kinds of good words,” she teased her fiancée and patted her leg. "I'm having Jess look into how the Institution found out about your part in the reactor designs and if there is a leak she'll find," she said switching back to more serious matters. 

“Can we not talk shop or super-shop for that matter right now, please?” the blonde asked with a small smile. “I want this weekend to be just about us,” she added, giving a happy little bounce in the passenger seat. 

“I can do that,” she grinned in return and shifted the car into a higher gear and again the engine roared as the car hurdled down the road towards the small town.

“I know it’s silly, but I love when you drive us, I love the sounds and the feeling of the wind in my hair and it’s awesome! Whoohoo!” the blonde shouted, throwing her hands in the air again as she sped up more. 

There was something wonderfully innocent about how much Kara loved fast cars, though she’d never seen the blonde behind the steering wheel of a car once. As weekend getaways went this one was already on track to be a good one, they’d even dressed up for the drive on Kara’s suggestion. The ever-excitable and ever-stunning blonde wore a knee-length red dress with matching shoes and a dramatically long white scarf and then the nymph had insisted that she wear a black pantsuit and that she’d put her hair up in a tight bun. It could almost be called a spot of cross-dressing on her part, but if Kara wanted to play dress-up she’d happily play along.

“Look the lighthouse! Can we stop please?” the blonde begged when the lighthouse where they’d spent a night stargazing once came into view. Pulling up the gravel road leading up to the white and red lighthouse, and she had barely stopped when Kara jumped out of the car.

“Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that this was your plan all along,” she chuckled as she got out of the car and in response, the ever-excitable blonde flashed a patented million-watt smile at her.

“This is where we took our first couple selfie, remember? Do you think I had us get dressed up for nothing my darling prince?” Kara asked and held out her hand in an overdramatic fashion while curtseying.

“Your darling prince?” she asked with a raised eyebrow taking her fiancée’s hand and letting herself to be pulled in.

“Hey, I like when you wear your business power-suit, but also when you wear a skirt, oh and that green Supergirl costume, look sue me alright! I like you a lot! I’m marrying you after all,” the blonde declared and pulled her in close while pulling her phone out of a small red purse.

“Would it be a correct to assume that bad intern Kara likes the power-suit too,” she joked, and Kara blushed bright red, the blonde hero definitely enjoyed roleplaying that was for sure. 

“Shut-up and look smoldering,” the blonde ordered her, and she put her arm around the woman’s waist and leaned in close. “Perfect, now kiss my cheek,” she instructed her, and she leaned in planting her lips on the offered cheek, leaving a big red lipstick mark on Kara’s tan skin. Then to her surprise Kara turned and kissed her square on the lips while looking side-ways into the camera and she smiled into the kiss running her fingers through Kara’s maim of golden-blonde hair.

“Can I ask what I brought this on?” she asked once sufficient phots had been snapped while watching Kara's fingers moving at super-speed composing a post to go along with their pictures. 

“It’s stupid, and you’re going to think that I’m being silly, but somebody at work asked me why there weren’t more pictures of us online, and I’ve always been so worried about being found out that I realized I hadn’t even thought about posting more pictures of us. I want the world to see that I’m with my fiancée,” the blonde blurted out her mouth moving at the same speed as her thoughts, and it took all of her concentration to make out the words. 

Looking at the focused face of her blonde fiancée, she shook her head slightly. Behind it all, the majestic and forceful Kara Zor-El of Krypton and the bumbling and clumsily Kara Danvers, there was a young woman who just wanted people to know that she loved her girlfriend and rumored fiancée.

“Kara, it’s not stupid, it’s actually very sweet,” she smiled, and the blonde looked up from her phone with a small smile on her pink lips and a red lipstick mark on her cheek.

“I just feel like that when the universe gives us a few spare moments we should capture them and cherish them. Because we stand together against all these threats to our world all the time, be they large and small. But maybe one day we’re going to have children, I hope, and I want to show them us when we were young and in love and not just news photos of Supergirl and Green Lantern,” Kara spoke earnestly and with sapphire blue eyes shining with passion. 

“And not to mention, you want to show Susan who writes for CatCo’s Lifestyle blog that you totally got a girlfriend?” she asked with a teasing smile and was rewarded by the blonde grabbing the front of her suit and pulling her in for a quick and passionate kiss further smudging her red lipstick. 

“That too,” the blonde said with a smirk. “Thanks for not freaking out about the children part,” she added shyly.

“I… yes… hold on a second…“ she stammered, not quite knowing what to do or say she jogged back towards the car and pulled out the picnic basket Cassandra had arranged for them based on the exhaustive notes Jess had left behind before moving into her new position. “Let’s have a picnic and talk about that?” she offered lamely.

With Kara watching she spread out and red and white checkered picnic blanket and pulling out what could best be described as Scooby-Doo sized sandwiches along with bottles of orange juice. Laying it all out she sat down, and she offered her fiancée a seat.

“Children uh?” she asked, watching the blonde being mindful of her dress sitting down and handed the woman a towering sandwich on a plate. Which she took with a smile, seemingly torn between her bottomless stomach and what she affectionately called gooey relationship stuff.

“Well yeah, I’ve been thinking about it, we’re going to be married, and on Krypton that usually meant children would follow when the time was right, granted we were birthed from a matrix,” the blonde said taking a big bite out of her sandwich. 

“It might be tricky, with us being different species and the only potential Kryptonian sperm donor is your cousin,” she said without thinking, and Kara choked her on her sandwich.

“Ewww, ewww and extra ewww!” the blonde coughed and took a big sip of orange juice glaring at her slightly. 

“Sorry, was just thinking out loud, but yes I would love to have children with you one day,” she said, and it felt so easy to say it she realized. Children with Kara, dark-haired and blue-eyed bundles of joy, yes she could easily picture that.

“Really?” Kara asked with her blue eyes growing wider as she put down her drink and fiddled with the hem of her dress. 

“Really, and no matter what we’ll find a way to do it. After all, what good is being a genius if I can’t figure it out, right?” she asked sounding a bit egotistical and she knew it.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kara exclaimed, lunging forward and wrapping strong arms around her neck. 

“Dead set on making an honest family woman out of me, aren't you?” she joked, and Kara just looked at her with a big smile on her face.

“Kind of, I know I go on about wanting to be Kara Zor-El and not hiding behind these glasses all the time,” the blonde said taking off her glasses to prove her point. “But if I’m honest with myself, the thing I want the most is not to be alone, not to be the last daughter of Krypton and to have a family. Whatever it will look like, with you, because that would mean that I’m no longer the last one,” she finished holding onto her wrists.

Lena tried to speak, opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. How in Hawking’s name did this woman keep on surprising her? Part of her wanted to tell Kara that she’d had made a family out of friends and co-workers already. Alex, James, Winn, J’onn and even Jess and of course herself had all been pulled into the blonde’s orbit. But what she was asking her was different. She was asking her to make a home together with children of their own. Somehow, she’d make that happen she promised herself and then damned Murphy’s Law reared its ugly head.

“Lena! Your hands!” Kara shouted and looking down she could see that her hands had burst into green flames at the flood of emotions that had been triggered by all this talk about children and the future.

“Oh crap,” she cursed and held up her hands, but no matter what the fire would go away. Why did this keep happening and why did she keep forgetting about it her mind raced as this time hurt like hell to boot, almost if the fire was trying to explode out of her.

“Hold still,” the blonde ordered her. “I’m doing a scan of your vitals, does it hurt?” she asked sounding concerned and a little bit scared. Peering her blue eyes to focus her vision powers and the fire seemed to flare in response to them.

“No, fuck! Alright it hurts just a little bit, just can’t… make it go… away,” she grunted, trying to focus her willpower on the green flames that danced across her hands and were making their way up her arms. 

“Has this happened before, I’m not mad at you for not telling me, but I need to know,” Kara asked as her vision turned to hues of green and she could barely nod her head, and speaking took almost all of her effort. 

“Was… going to tell you… thought I had it under control… the voice said it was fine…” she groaned as she felt the flames dancing all over her body now and keeping her thoughts straight was becoming near impossible, but she pushed back against the fire and the flames.

“The voice? Is it the ring? Is it something inside you?” Kara asked, laying her down on the picnic blanket and checking her pulse while ignoring the emerald flames that danced around them both now. 

“Something inside…” she grunted and why was this happening, was this the universe giving her the middle-finger now that she was on the cusp of her happily ever after.

“Ganthet, the Guardians?” the blonde asked, pulling her suit and blouse open with buttons flying and revealing the star-shaped mark on her chest. 

“Not… sure… not enough… data… Kara, I can’t control it,” she felt the fire inside her burning like an inferno. It wanted out she realized, and now this was bad, really bad and worse yet she had no control over it.

“Lena listen to me, I’m going to fly you up and you’re going to let it go, okay?” Kara said picking her up and rising from the ground with the white scarf billowing like a cape behind her as she flew them into the sky over the ocean.

“Can’t… don’t want to hurt you,” she barely managed to say before the first wave of green fire burst out of her. No, she would not give in, and she felt blood trickling out of her nose as she gritted her teeth and fought against it. 

“Hey! Look at me! I’m tougher than I look, remember, and don’t worry I’ve got you,” the blonde said, holding her tight as the green fire washed over them both. Looking into Kara’s blue eyes, she nodded her head, Tesla’s Coils it hurt, and she threw her head back. The power wanted out some part of her brain rationalized through the pain, so all she had to do was vent it like an overheating reactor. Clinging to Kara's strong shoulders she did just that and let go.

“Kara!” she screamed towards the sky, and like a supernova, the power inside her flared and a column of green fire could be seen from miles around, splitting the sky and boiling the sea underneath them. Through it all, Kara held her tight with a sympathetic smile and never once flinched despite the waves of emerald fire washing over them both. The last thing she remembered seeing was Kara’s concerned face looking down at her as the green flames died down, and then the world went dark with the blonde’s words echoing in her mind: “I’ve got you… I’ve got you…”

* * *

Later, in a familiar hotel room, Kara Zor-El was furious and she was going to find that blue little space midget Ganthet and dangle him over the event horizon of the nearest a black hole, but first, she had to make sure Lena was alright. After her fiancée had burned herself out in the skies over Cape Hope, she’d flown her to the hotel claiming that she’d fallen asleep. Going to the DEO would have been smarter she knew, but she didn’t want to risk that long of a flight with Lena in the state she was in. Now the raven-haired woman lay unconscious, but alive, on the hotel room bed as she still in a red dress called up Alex to do damage control. 

“She’s fine, I was able to get her high enough up, so it didn’t hurt anybody,” she said over the phone brushing a lock of hair out of Lena’s face and a tiny emerald flame danced between it and her fingertips. The power had been vented but was clearly still very much active inside her beloved.

“You sure, I can have a team there in thirty minutes, if this is Sinestro again we need to be ready,” her sister exclaimed over the phone. 

“I’m sure, Eliza is on her way to check up on her, and a DEO team arriving in Cape Hope after a massive green flare in the sky would only draw attention to us, but arrange for a small team to get the car we left at the lighthouse and bring it here, please,” she patiently told her sister putting her glasses down on the nightstand. 

“When did you become so smart about this stuff,” Alex said sounding somewhat impressed. 

“I’m a quick learner, tell J’onn to relax and have Winn connect the DEO to the early warning system Lena put in far-Earth orbit a while back. Tell him to tune into the fifty-megahertz frequency, and the passcode is sixty-nine twenty-four-seven,” she instructed her sister but tried not to sound too bossy. 

“Yes ma’am,” Alex replied without any hint of sarcasm. “And Kara, look after Lena and be careful,” she added.

“I will, I’ll call you in as soon as anything changes. Oh, and get Guardian out on the streets in case somebody notices us gone and tries to take advantage of it,” she said and after a quick goodbye she hung up and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“What am I going to do with you?” she asked the passed-out raven-haired woman while rechecking her pulse. Finding it strong and steady, she glanced at Lena’s unbuttoned blouse and the star-shaped mark on her chest glowed with a faint green light, and now all she could do was wait for Eliza. Her adoptive mother was being flown in via L-Corp helicopter. Alex hadn't been her first call, but rather it had been Jess and when she'd told the woman she was in charge of L-Corp until Lena was back on her feet. Jess had simply said yes, arranged for the helicopter and explained that Lena had left instructions that if she was ever incapacitated again anything Kara said was to be obeyed. 

“Please wake up,” she whispered, letting out a shuttering breath as she allowed herself to worry at last and pushing on the raven-haired woman’s shoulder slightly, but there was no response. 

“Wake up Lena,” she said a little bit louder, took Lena’s hand in hers and squeezed it, but to no avail. Before she could cry, because Rao she hated finding herself at Lena’s bedside like this again, a flash of green appeared out of the corner of her eye and she resisted the urge to lunge out and grab Ganthet as he teleported in.

“Took you long enough,” she muttered fixing Lena’s covers and making sure her fiancée was comfortable before turning to face him.

“It is good to see you again Kara Zor-El,” the floating blue being known as Ganthet greeted her, but he flinched when she glared at him being in no mood for pleasantries. 

“What did you do to her?” she demanded in a quiet but deadly serious tone of voice. “Why is she hearing voices? And why are her powers flaring up? Why does she even have powers?” she asked and pointing at her pass-out beloved. Worrying Kara Danvers instantly being replaced by an enraged Kara Zor-El. 

“The whys we do not know, what we do know is that when she transported herself to Oa we sensed a great power dormant inside her, as for how we have our theories,” the blue being answered her, and she sighed.

“Always secrets and lies with you people isn’t there? We knew about the Guardians of the universe on Krypton, you know. I didn’t tell Lena all of it because she was so happy to be a hero, to be part of your Green Lantern Corps,” she said, running her hand down Lena’s cheek. 

“Your people were the most advanced mortal race in the universe yes,” he agreed and floated next to her looking at Lena with concern. In the long history of Krypton, they had clashed with the Guardians many times over how best to ensure peace in the galaxy, those relations had often been fraught with tension. Those history lessons taught to her at a young age combined with the state Lena was in because of her Green Lantern ststus fueled her angry response. 

“I am my people,” she declared. “You Guardians. claim to be nigh on omnipotent, so I’ll spare you the speech, but you know what I am capable of, correct?” she asked and allowed her eyes to glow redish-golden with heat-vision. Casting off her self-imposed limitations she let the power granted to her by Earth's yellow sun course through her uninhibited. 

“We… are aware,” the blue being said hesitating somewhat between his words. It was the one truth she kept hidden, from Alex, from Clark and even from Lena. The truth that she was capable of much more than what she showed. Lena had seen her mind at work, but nobody needed to see the full scope of her powers unleashed. Deep down, she knew she wasn’t like any of them, not even like Clark, but they didn’t need to know that. But she knew because the red ring has shown her visions of what she could one day become if she only willed it to be. 

“Good, that saves us time, now what is this power you sensed inside her, and if I don’t get the truth out of you Ganthet, you and I are going to for a quick trip to the nearest black hole,” she threatened the blue being without any hint of her usual cheerful self.

“When we, the Guardians were young, we gathered up the errand energies of creation into an object called the Starheart,” he started telling her. “Mortals often call those energies, magic,” he explained.

“And you’re telling me this Starheart is in Lena?” she asked and glanced at the raven-haired beauty focusing her vision on the star-shaped emerald mark on Lena's perfect porcelain white skin. Cycling through the spectrums she could see the barely contained tendrils of energy trying to flow out of Lena's chest only kept in check by the woman's indomitable will. Even unconscious Lena Luthor didn't give up.

“In a way, when Sinestro killed her predecessor, he was transporting the Starheart for safekeeping, in the battle the Starheart was destroyed. But it'ss energies which Sinestro believed also to be destroyed latched onto her ring instead as it sought a new wearer,” Ganthet replied and the star-shape on Lena’s chest pulsed as the CEO gave a sigh.

“You know this explains a lot, when I first saw her with a Green Lantern ring I wondered where her power battery was, because how she used it didn’t fit with what I had learned on Krypton, but she doesn’t really need the ring or a power battery does she?” she asked and ran her fingers over Lena’s bracelet and ring.

“The ring helps her focus, but she does not need it nor a power battery. You saw that for yourself when she fought Sinestro without it, but she could have done so without the Starheart’s power for she is remarkably strong-willed,” Ganthet nodded conforming what her and Lena had theorised that anyone strong willed enough could tap into the green light if willpower.q

“When you told her that it was her mystery to discover, was that more lies or did you ever mean to tell her about this Starheart?” she asked next and her eyes narrowed on the blue being. Lena hated betrayal and so did she, thought she was far more willing to forgive than Lena was.

“Our studies indicated that over time the power of the Starheart would slowly leave her and return to the universe, no one being should be able to contain it for this long. We had not foreseen that it would be this explosive,” he said almost sounding apologetic. “Please understand Kara Zor-El, we have proclaimed someone as a chosen one before and it often ends in disaster,” he added trying to explain away his Corps' secrecy. 

“You made her Torchbearer and gave her knowledge beyond any Green Lantern. How is that not making her a chosen one? For all intended purposes, it was your meddling that caused this mess. Without whatever you put in her mind this thing might already have left her,” she exclaimed as she tried not to roar at the blue-skinned and white-haired being who Lena still held in high esteem. 

“We were desperate Kara Zor-El, and Sinestro had to be stopped, Lena Luthor was our best hope,” he said defending their actions and she clenched her fist taking a shaky breath. If what Ganthet said was true then Lena had always been special, which came as no surprise to her, but whatever was now inside her fiancée had to be dealt with.

“Alright this is what’s going to happen Ganthet,” she started as she stood up and faced the Guardian with her hands on her hips. “You are going to pop back to Oa and dig up whatever you can about the Starheart, then come back here and tell Lena everything. If that doesn’t happen, I’m going to come to Oa and tear the place apart piece by piece until I find the information I need. Also, we never speak of this conversation, are we clear?” she asked staring the blue near-omnipotent being down with the full force of her righteous rage burning in her eyes. That last part she knew was more of a threat, because she didn't keep secrets from Lena. Well not for long, she needed to think a bit about how to explain that, hey I'm nigh omnipotent if I just let myself be so. 

“We are clear, as you say Kara Zor-El” he nodded and glanced at Lena. “Trust me when I say that Lena Luthor is unique, and I will not let her down, this I promise,” he said and snapped his fingers popping back out of existence. 

"I know," she said letting out a long breath and she turned around to face Eliza who stood there with her medical case in hand and a stunned look on her face. Having left orders at the front desk for her adoptive mother to be given a key to their room, she wasn’t surprised at her arrival. The timing, however, did suck something fierce. 

“How long have you been here?” she asked not really caring and sat back down on the bed next to Lena. 

“Long enough to see you put the fear of god into a blue alien being of immeasurable power,” her adoptive mother replied getting out her stethoscope to check on Lena.

“I needed him to understand that I wasn’t messing around,” she shrugged and put her glasses on before pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

“Kara, could you really do everything you told him you would do?” Eliza asked looking up from checking on Lena with a concerned look on her face.

“Which part, because teleportation isn’t that hard when you know what to do, and yes, I would tear an entire planet apart if it meant helping Lena,” she stated almost laughing at how easy it would be. Easier still if she'd raise her hand to he heavens and call out for a red ring. Even though they'd burned away the ring which had attached itself to her in the fight against Sinestro, she knew there was a whole Corps of Red Lanterns out there, more than happy to have her back in their ranks. The rage never went away, she had simply learned to process it and channel it, but it never went away fully.

“We all underestimate you, don’t we?” the adoptive mother asked softly and opened one of Lena’s green eyes shining a light into it and the only response was a pulse of light from the star-shaped mark. 

“That’s by design,” she admitted. “When I had the red ring on it showed me things, it showed me what I could do if I only wanted to and Eliza it scared me,” she went on and squeezed Lena’s hand. “But scared or not, I would tear this universe apart for her,” she quietly declared as she watched her adoptive mother nurse her wife-to-be. 

* * *

Later that evening in National City, James Olsen, CatCo’s CEO, and award-winning photojournalist was out patrolling as his vigilante alter-ego of Guardian. With Kara and Lena out of commission and Winn on monitor duty for the DEO, it left him to take care of the vigilante side of things by himself tonight. Pulling up on his motorcycle at a reported disturbance at a nightclub, he was immediately met by a rush of people pouring out of the neon-lit entrance way to the club. Grabbing a terrified looking young woman, he tried to get some information about what was going on.

“I’m here to help, can you tell me what happened?” he asked as a loud crash echoed from inside the club. 

“There was this gas, and then they just started fighting, these gang members and there are knives, then this giant bat thing showed up and… I have to get our of here!” the woman blurted out before running away in a blind panic.

Getting his shield ready he made his way through the rushing crowd, and inside the club the blaring music assaulted his ears. Broken lights tangled from the ceiling, and there was broken glass everywhere. On the dance floor a cowled figure stood alone and around her were at least a dozen unconscious bodies. A flash of steel caught his eye as someone tried to rush her, so he hurled his shield at the would be attacker knocking him out clean and drawing the Batgirl’s attention in the process.

“Hey there, it looked like you needed a hand,” he saluted at her, and she didn’t seem impressed.

“I’m Guardian, I kind of take care of things like this around here and you are?” he asked keeping it casual while walking up to the cowled woman, extending his hand as she looked down at it and then up at him.

“Batgirl,” she said in a muffled voice shaking his hand slowly, the grip was incredibly strong, much stronger than he’d expected out of someone almost a foot shorter than him. Still, it wasn’t a big surprise seeing as he had friends that crushed coal into diamonds with their hands. 

“Not a talker, that figures. I met your mentor once or twice. I think, the Batman, but it was years ago,” he smiled behind his mask. Clark’s run-ins with the Batman of Gotham had always been interesting back in the day, as the vigilante had a way of putting the big blue boy scout in his place like no other. 

“Partner,” the girl corrected him with her voice muffled by her full-face mask, then she casually kicked one of the gang members who was trying to get up back into unconsciousness with one heavy black boot. 

“So, what brings you to National City from Gotham?” he asked, checking on the knocked-out gang members and kicking away their knives as he went around, before zip-tying their hands behind their backs. 

“Fear, goodbye, now” the Batgirl answered making her way towards the exit with her cape swaying behind her.

“That’s pretty vague,” he said looking up to see her striding way. “Hey hold up,” he called as he ran after her and grabbed onto a handful of her cape, which was a mistake he soon realized as she removed his hand from her person and twisted it before flipping him onto his back all in one fluid motion. 

“Oww! Sorry, shouldn’t have done that,” he grunted as he hit the floor and the Batgirl turned to walk away again. “Wait! I don't know how things are done in Gotham, but in this town we work together,” he grunted, getting to one knee. 

“Work alone,” the cowled woman replied, then paused and thought for a moment before she walked back towards him and looked down while offering him a hand to get up. 

Taking the offered hand, he got to his feet and looked down at the bat-eared vigilante. “Look whatever you’re after has something to do with what happened at CatCo and L-Corp right?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Well we’ve noticed a pattern of teleportation and some shadowy group called the Institution, and I think we’ll have a much better chance figuring this out together,” he said, trying to convince the Batgirl to work with him.

“We? Supergirl? Green Lantern?” the girl asked, sounding genuinely curious now despite the muffling effect of her mask. 

“Yes, like I said in this town we work together,” he smiled behind his own mask, and she cocked her head to the side rapping her knuckles against his breastplate. 

“Come, follow,” she told him and turned around motioning for him to come with her and being used to being ordered around by powerful women, loathe as he was to admit it, he followed her out of the nightclub. 

“Nice bike,” she commented when they stepped outside and then she vanished into a nearby alley before returning with a sleek black bat-cycle of her own. “Follow,” she ordered again him as the engine of her bike roared to life. 

Keeping up with the Batgirl was tricky as she drove like a maniac weaving in and out of traffic until they reached the docks and a nondescript warehouse. The loading doors opened in front of them and the cowled woman pulled her bike to a stop inside the empty warehouse as the doors slid shut behind them.

“Warehouse hide-out, classic,” he joked and looked around as the woman pulled a remote out of her yellow utility belt and pressed a button. The sound of metal scraping against metal rang out, and the entrance to a spiral staircase appeared in the middle of the floor right in front of him, causing to jump back so he wouldn't fall down the emerging hole.

Brushing past him he swore he could see a grin under the Batgirl’s mask as her black combat boots clanged against the steps as he followed her down. The staircase which opened up into a small cave with walls lined with screens and computer terminals and what appeared to be a small crime lab, he let out an impressed whistle. In the middle of the cave, there was a holographic map of National City, and by the cave's main workstation there was an imposing chair with a bat-shaped back. Say this for the Bat-folks of Gotham they were always on-brand. In the gloomy light, he could also see various alcoves that led to the sides where he could make out a dimly lit workout area and a medical station. 

“Spoke too soon,” he corrected himself as Batgirl walked up to the holographic map and tapped a few commands on the console. The map lit up with red dots marking the scenes of all the outbreaks of mass hysteria in the past few days.

“Attacks here, here and here,” she said not wasting any words. “Club, different,” she then said poking her finger through the map to pinpoint the club they'd just been at. 

“We think the attack on L-Corp was a distraction, CatCo and National City mall were the tests, but yeah why attack a nightclub?” he wondered walking up next to her. 

“See file Scarecrow,” Batgirl spoke and brought up and image of a masked man wearing rags with a sack and a gasmask on his head with hypodermic needles on the fingers of his left hand.

“He’s one of yours I take it?” he asked, and she nodded grimly bringing up details about the Scarecrow, and he scanned the information. Biochemist and psychologist, his preferred method of attack, fear gas. That explained what had been happening around the city. More worrying the attack on CatCo might have been solely to test the effects of the gas on Kara and the attack on the National City Mall had been to test their response time. Man the pair had picked the wrong weekend for a romantic getaway he concluded.

“Escaped Arkham Asylum, hired by Institution, motive money,” Batgirl explained and waved the image of the Scarecrow away and sat down in her chair crossing her legs and tapping her fingers together underneath her nose. 

“He’s hired muscle then, and the real threat is this Institution,” he reasoned and leaned back against the map.

“Got bored, club attack, for fun,” she nodded sounding disgusted that someone would do something like that. Despite her abrupt demeanor and flipping him on his ass, he decided that he liked this girl. 

“So, we find him and squeeze him for information about the Institution, and you take him back to Arkham?” he suggested, the sooner this maniac was out of the city, the happier he would be, Gotham’s villains gave him the creeps. “Though GL and Supergirl might want to help with the squeezing,” he added, shamelessly name dropping his friends in heroics. 

“Squeezing good,” she chuckled rolling up the bottom of her mask to reveal her lips. “Loose helmet, James Olsen,” she added with a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth, and her voice sounded clearer no longer muffled by the mask, and he groaned taking off his helmet. 

“What gave me away?” he asked, putting the helmet down on the map making the hologram flicker. 

“Batman has files,” she explained and cocked her head to the side again seeming to study him. “Superman’s pal,” she said with a full-blown grin now.

“Does this mean we can work together, Batgirl?” he asked and crossed his arms over his chest. If name dropping his famous friends meant getting Batgirl on his side he'd play along. 

“Where are Supergirl and Green Lantern?” she asked, still speaking in short, concise sentences even without the mask muffling her voice and putting her hands on the armrests of her chair. 

“Indisposed,” he answered, not wanting to give away that Kara was currently holed up in a hotel room with an unconscious Lena Luthor. That wasn't his secret to share after all.

“Green flare off the coast?” she quizzed him, tapping buttons on the armrest bringing up footage of it, and he wondered if that was anything this woman didn’t know as he simply nodded in response as she took a moment to think. 

“We order pizza,” she declared finally and turned around tapping away at the keyboard of her computer terminal. 

“Is that a yes?” he asked with a laugh as he walked up behind the woman’s chair and put his arm on it, and Batgirl looked at him with a sweet smile on her lips, and he was a little taken back by it. The way she spoke was jarring to be sure, but that might just be a secret identity thing he assumed.

“Yes,” she nodded and brought up a website for a local pizza place so they could order. “Lots of pepperoni?” she asked him and as he leaned down next to her, with only her lips exposed he couldn’t really tell who she was under the mask and it was impolite to pry. But, having another non-metahuman hero on the streets would be a welcome change, and she wasn’t bad on the eyes either. Pulling back away from the girl a little, he chased that thought out of his head. Man, he’d been single too long. 

"Chili too," he said and again Batgirl smiled at him seeming to approve of his choice, and he knew he was in trouble now. Intimidating and cute wasn't supposed to go together like this but this Batgirl somehow managed it. 

"One large pepperoni pizza with chili coming up," Batgirl then declared having put in their order and he looked at her in shocked surprise.

"Oh, so you do speak more than four words at a time," he teased her and she punched him in the arm in response.

"Secret identity and habit are mostly to blame, and come on have you tried speaking through a mask?" she asked giving him a pointed look and then she laughed and again he knew he was in deep trouble if he planned on hanging around this girl. Holding up his hands he admitted defeat which made the girl laugh even harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh did I just drop hints for a heterosexual pairing... maybe, but I'll be checking in on James and Batgirl going forward.
> 
> GLena Wiki entry time for Lena's "powers" because I might have gotten too smart for my own good here: She can use the green light of willpower without ring if she really tries, its what the Guardians do after all and she's just that stubborn and smart. As stated in Mirror Images it's much easier with the ring. The Starheart energies inside her do make her more powerful and explain why the green aura around her is more often than not flame-like, but as Gathert said they should have left her, but she's somehow retaining them.


	6. Starheart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena wakes up in a strange place or is it just all in her mind?
> 
> James and Batgirl track down the Scarecrow with Batgirl going against one of Batman's rules, but is it a trap?
> 
> We get some answer as to what the Starheart is and why it's stuck in Lena. Oh and there is something super cute in this chapter too!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last of the summer holidays chapters, so look for more frequent updates starting next week

“Please wake up,” a voice whispered in her ear, but her eyes wouldn’t open, and it felt like her eyelids weighed a ton. This was becoming way too familiar of a situation for Lena Luthor, knocked out and waking up in a strange place, when signing up for super-heroics she'd expected more saving kittens and kissing blondes. 

“Wake up Lena,” the voice said a bit louder, and this time she managed to crack her eyes open just a little bit. Everything was blurry and green around her, and slowly, she opened her eyes fully. Looking down, she could see that she still was wearing her pantsuit from her road trip with Kara, and as the world around her came into focus, she found herself lying in a forest clearing with her hands pushing on the soft grass. As she came to more and more other colors coming into focus, she could see a blue sky and red flowers and a figure bathed in green flames standing over her. That was new.

“Who… what are you?” she asked, sitting up and feeling around on her suit she breathed a sigh of relief that the engagement ring she’d gotten for Kara was still there. The bracelets were also accounted for, but more worryingly, however,her power ring was missing from her finger. The only sign of it was a faint pink mark. 

“I am whatever willpower wants me to be,” the figure laughed, and the flaming green figure solidified into an emerald vision of Kara, partly transparent with flickering flames standing in for the blonde’s long hair. 

Getting to her feet, she studied the entity in front of her. It was an excellent recreation of her fiancée right down to the twinkle in her eyes and the ever-present smile. On a hunch, she unbuttoned her blouse, and there it was the star-shaped mark glowing brightly in the middle of her chest. 

“You’re the voice, that’s been telling me not to worry,” she said and held up her hand, letting it burst into a green flame, good she had some power here, d she started shaping the fire into a ring to replace the one that was missing. 

“Correct and you are my host,” the vision of Kara spoke with a smile that made her heart skip a beat. This vision wasn't Kara she reminded herself, rather something alien drawing on her memories to present a friendly if stunningly beautiful face to her.

“Host sounds parasitic don’t you think?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Despite facing an entity of incalculable power in a strange location, she wasn’t going to cower or back down, that’s not what Luthors or future Zor-Els for that matter did.

“My apologies, through the machinations of mortal beings you’ve become my vessel, unwillingly,” the entity spoke sounding almost apologetic in Kara’s flickering voice. 

“Better,” she said, focusing on her willpower on the half-formed ring in her hands she solidified it into a new power ring and slipped it on her finger. Having felt somewhat naked without it and lacking her badge of office.

“I was expecting more panicked blubbering from you truth be told,” the entity giggled taking on more of Kara’s mannerism and not to mention her laugh. This thing had no right to do that she thought and clenched her fists.

“Don’t imitate Kara,” she stated firmly, and the entity reverted back to a vague silhouette made out of emerald flames. “Better, so you really are what willpower wants you to be,” she said and focused her will on the figure. “What are you?” she asked, compelling it to take its true form.

“Your Guardians called me the Starheart,” the entity identified itself while shrinking down to a small multifaceted star, almost like the one you’d put on top of a Christmas tree. Guardians, Ganthet, oh she was going to have a long talk with blue space-grandpa when she got back home.

Thinking of home caused the world around her to blur green and she found herself in her and Kara’s apartment, in full color and decorated for Christmas as the Starheart floated in front of her. Was this a dream, was she in another pocket dimensions or had she finally failed to cheat death? Her life had always been complicated, but these past few months had taken those complications to unheard-of levels, why couldn't things just be normal for once?

“Not a dream, we are inside a construct of your own mind,” the Starheart spoke in that same voice which had been whispering in the back of her mind.

“Where am I then? Where is my physical body?” she asked, worrying that Kara was most likely going out of her mind right now, but on the upside, she wasn't dead yet. Stuck in a coma somewhere maybe or having the mother of all out-off body experiences perhaps. 

“Your physical body lies in a place of hope by the great sea of your planet,” the Starheart told her and before she could ask another question something or someone grabbed around her leg. Looking down, she gasped, looking up at her where Kara’s blue eyes were gazing up at her from the face of a little girl that looked much like her own at that age. Oh, this wasn't fair, by Einstein's whiskers this wasn't fair at all! 

“Mom, you’re home!” a blue-eyed and raven-haired girl of maybe five years old exclaimed excitedly and jumped up and down. “Mother, mom’s home!” she then called out in flawless Kryptonian, and she felt a lump in her throat as Kara looking heavily pregnant emerged from the bedroom. The blonde with no glasses and bare feet had her long hair in a braid down one shoulder and wore a deep blue maternity dress. 

“Thought you were working late, you know making sure everything was in order before the holidays,” the image of Kara said with that same smile she’d fallen in love with and a hand on her swollen belly. No, this wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real, at least not yet. 

"Want to see what I made?" the little girl asked beaming up at her and leaving this dream was proving harder than she'd thought. But, Kara was waiting for her in the real world and this future would come to pass one day in some form or another. She'd make it happen come hell or high water. 

“Maybe one day,” she said, looking down at the precious five year old clinging to her leg as she patted the girl’s head and smiled at them both. Closing her eyes, she thought of work, her office, and her big white desk. When she opened her eyes, she was sitting behind said desk with the Starheart floating in front of her.

“Let’s talk, why are you inside me?” she asked, assuming the manner which she used in the boardroom. It helped keep her focused because clearly, any errand thought would manifest into reality if she let it. 

“For eons, I was contained and dormant, then the man of fear and hate shattered my cage, and I was free,” the Starheart answered it's voice alternating between fearful and elated.

“The man of fear and hate? Sinestro?” she asked and leaned back in her chair.

“Yes, we defeated him, don’t you remember?” the Starheart asked and floated closer to her.

“I remember, what do you want from me?” she asked, cutting to the chase now.

“A great darkness is coming, you must fight it with your beloved,” the floating green star declared.

“That’s vague and ominous,” she groaned and rubbed her face. “What is the darkness? The fighting between the Corps ended when I stuck Sinestro in a quantum paradox cage,” she asked, granted there were still skirmished but without their leader, the Sinestro Corp had fallen to pieces.

“The end of all things comes, it hates the light of creation and all its children,” the Starheart explained and then went silent hanging in the air in front of her.

“Tesla’s coils! Why can’t anyone give me a straight answer, when, why, who?” she shouted and pushed her chair back and got to her feet, again the Starheart only pulsed when she glared at it. Then it hit her, the entity didn’t know, and there was a very good reason why.

“You don’t know because I don’t know," she sighed and poked at the floating star in front of her that had now gone quiet when she wasn’t focusing her willpower on it. Back on Oa she'd been granted knowledge to fight Sinestro and it had been so much that even months later her conscious mind hadn't fully processed it, but her subconsciousness sure had.

“I’ve been talking to myself, haven’t I? Typical, you’re whatever willpower makes you, and I made you talk,” she concluded and looked around her office. The conversation she’d had, had been with herself and her own subconscious, with the Starheart acting as a sounding board. 

“Figures that I’d be the voice in my own head, no wonder Lex went mad, must be in the gene pool,” she huffed to herself and started looking around the office her mind had constructed around her. 

“You are the voice in your own head,” the Starheart agreed with her when she looked at it and sighing, she reached out and plucked it out of the air. Whatever answers she needed, she wasn’t going to find them stuck inside her own head that was for sure. Pulling the twinkling star close to her chest, she let it absorb into her body. The Institution goon she'd questioned in her lab when they'd come for the reactor had told her that a great darkness was coming, the Starheart though not sentient clearly sensed it too and that meant it was time to wake the hell up. 

“Wake up, have to wake up,” she said to herself as the warm green glow spread inside her. Even though the Starheart wasn’t sentient as she now understood, not in a conventional sense at least. The warning it had given had been true. The entity sensed something on the horizon and had been trying to either escape it or fight it or both, which explained the flare-ups she’d been having. It was in a sense, afraid, but overcoming great fear was what she did. 

“Stronger together,” she said to it, and she felt the mark on her chest pulsating in agreement. Whatever was coming, she needed to break free of this dream, and talk to Kara, speak to everybody who would listen. Closing her eyes, she thought of Kara and home, of the lighthouse and the hotel room where they’d come out to each other and then she took a deep breath, held it in and let it out.

* * *

“Wake up, please,” Kara said again after Eliza had gone to bed, it had been a few more agonizing hours of Lena laying there unmoving save for the rising and falling of her chest, and it was almost midnight, but she’d stayed at her side. This was becoming a scary pattern in their relationship, her sitting waiting for Lena to wake up from whatever had knocked her out. There was nothing she could do to prevent it though, Lena despite her powers was still human and fragile, not that she’d ever say that to the woman’s face. Before she could take a trip down the rabbit hole of self-pity, Lena let out a huge breath, her green eyes fluttered open before glowing with emerald fire and she bolted upright.

“Einstein’s frizzy hair that was harder than it had any right to be!” she grumbled rubbing her face with the star-shaped mark glowing on her chest now. “Calm down, we need to find Kara and…” she trailed off looking at Kara who was staring at her in shock which quickly gave way to unbridled joy. 

“Thank Rao you’re awake!” the blonde shouted, hugging her tightly before pulling away and checking her over with sapphire blue eyes darting back and forth between her face and the mark on her chest.

“Hi…” she said, smiling weakly at her fiancée with her eyes returning to normal as she did a quick check of herself. Patting herself down and finding nothing missing or broken before reaching out to touch Kara to make sure she was real. 

“What did I miss?” she asked the blonde beauty and stroked her cheek with a smile. Glancing around, she was indeed in their room at the Cape Hope hotel. 

“What… did you miss? Lena, you exploded! You do remember that, right?” her fiancée asked, putting a hand against her forehead to check for a fever.

“I do remember, but it’s under control now, the Starheart won’t be trying to explode out of me again, I hope,” she said and then realized how crazy that must sound, but Kara looked unfazed by her statement.

“Wait where you… listening to my talk with Ganthet?” the blonde asked, sounding a bit embarrassed.

“Ganthet was here? No, I was stuck inside my mind talking to it, well myself really. Maybe I was unconsciously picking up on your conversation or my brain was filtering the knowledge Ganthet gave me on Oa, there are several possibilities, but take me through what happened,” she said lapsing into a Kara-esque babble almost as the thoughts came tumbling out of her mouth.

“Well, after you went supernova at the lighthouse, I brought you here, we’re in Cape Hope by the way,” the blonde started explaining. “I called for Eliza and arranged for her to use L-Corp’s helicopter to come and check on you, she’s sleeping in the next room now, and then Ganthet popped in, and I might have gone Zor-El on him, but he totally deserved it,” she finished with a small smile.

“They knew, didn’t they?” she asked, sounding and feeling less disappointed than she expected to be. It was sad all things considered, that she’d come to accept people to if not outright betray her, then at least withhold information from her. 

“They... suspected,” Kara answered clearly being diplomatic. “I sent Ganthet back to Oa to bring you everything he could find on this thing, might have threatened to take his planet apart piece by piece if he didn’t,” the blonde then sheepishly admitted.

“What else did Ganthet have to say?” she asked toying with her power ring now, having half a mind to rip it off and throw it in the trash, but no that was irrational the ring hadn’t done anything to her. If the warning from the Starheart was true she would need all the help she could get, and you didn't throw away a tool simply because one if its maker had upset you.

“This apparently all started back when you got the ring, your predecessor was attacked by Sinestro while transporting the Starheart, it was seemingly destroyed but…” the blonde trailed of glancing at her ring.

“It attached itself to the ring and then to me,” she finished for her and the star-shaped symbol on her chest pulsed in agreement.

“Does it… hurt?” Kara asked, running her warm fingers over the green mark on her skin. 

“Not really, it’s warm, is the best I can describe it,” she tried to explain looking down at the blonde’s fingers against her skin. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the power back inside her, and the mark faded, leaving only white skin behind.

“We’ve got to stop coming to this place, things always seem to go nuts when we do,” Kara then laughed a little and cupped her cheek.

“Kara, this doesn’t change anything, you know that right, I’m still me, just a bit more glowy at times,” she said with a small smile and leaned her cheek against the blonde’s touch.

“Nothing could ever change how I feel about you,” the blonde said firmly, and she felt herself being swallowed up in those sapphire blue eyes again.

“Good, but we might have a problem,” she hated spoiling their moment, but what the Starheart at told her lingered in her mind. “The Starheart warned me, that a great darkness was coming and that it hated all children of the light of creation,” she quoted what it had told her.

“Well that’s vague and ominous, explains why it’s been hiding inside you,” Kara mused leaning in to kiss her on the forehead. “Whatever it is, we’ll fight and beat it, that’s what we do right?” the blonde asked, pressing her forehead against hers.

“Am I not supposed to be the fearless one?” she chuckled and cupped Kara’s cheek gently with her ring hand. 

“Oh, you most definitely are, but what else can we do but prepare and fight?” the blonde asked, kissing the palm of her hand. 

“One day, I’ll figure out how we can stop that cycle. If we’re ever to settle down and have that family we were talking about. We’ll need at least nine months of peace and quiet around here,” she said with a grin and she loved how Kara’s eyes grew wide when she got excited.

“What do you mean, did you see the future? Did you go on some weird kind of Green Lantern spirit quest while you were out cold or something?” the blonde asked, hitting quite close to the truth. At the memory of what she’d seen came rushing back, a dark-haired and blue-eyed little girl, Kara pregnant and glowing. No waiting around, this was the moment, she decided and rolled out of the bed.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Kara laughed and sat perched on the bed, smiling at her still in her red dress and looking like a queen.

“Just…. Just stay there for a second,” she blurted out and fumbled around her pantsuit for the ring box. Bingo left side pocket it was still there, she pulled it out and got down on one knee in front of her blonde beloved who was now holding a hand over mouth in surprise.

“Right, I know you already did this, but hear me out," she said, opening the box revealing the ring to Kara. “Kara Danvers, will you marry me?” she asked, looking up at the blonde woman with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I might be recently out of a short coma, but I know that I love you stupid much and want you to be my partner forever and a day,” she added. Last time she’d woken up with Kara at her bedside she’d thought about proposing, but that had not been the time, this however was.

“I… you…” Kara tried to speak, and she felt herself smiling now, she’d at least succeeded in surprising the woman. “You literally explode in my arms, pass out, wake up telling me that the great darkness is coming and the first thing you do is propose to me?” the blonde then blurted out

“Saving the world is what we do, proposing to you I only get to do once,” she argued still smiling.

“Well I can’t say no to that kind of argument,” Kara laughed sticking out her hand. “What you are waiting for put a ring on it already,” she urged her.

“Uh you kind of have to say yes first,” she teased, holding the ring about an inch away from Kara’s offered hand.

“Yikes so bossy, alright, yes Lena Luthor I will marry you, but don’t forget who asked first,” the blonde said with a huge smile on her face.

“All I needed to hear,” she said and slipped the finger onto Kara’s finger and then yelped when the super-strong blonde pulled her up off the floor and onto her lap. “Do you like it?” she asked as Kara studied the ring.

“It’s so shiny, and I love the emeralds, they sparkle like your eyes whenever you have a new idea,” the blonde said, holding up her hand and inspecting the ring. 

“Now who is being a flatterer,” she chuckled and kissed the blonde on the cheek as she sat perched on her lap.

“You know you didn’t have to do this, I didn’t need a ring,” the blonde said softly and gave a shy little smile.

“No, but you deserve one, you got me something, and I wouldn’t be much of a billionaire if I didn’t get you a diamond ring and if you want I can get you a bigger one,” she joked and wrapped her arms around the blonde’s shoulders.

“No, this one is perfect,” the blonde quickly said and covered up the ring possesivly. “Guess this means we’re also doing an Earth wedding,” she then giggled. 

“I call dips on wearing the tux,” she said without thinking about it, and that made Kara burst out that deep rich laugh that she loved. “Sorry I had this mental image of you in a white wedding dress, and I want that to become a reality,” she apologized, feeling a slight blush rising up her cheeks.

“I would wear anything you want me to,” Kara said, kissing her lightly on the lips. “And if you want a blushing bride, I’ll happily be that for you,” she added with a twinkle in her blue eyes. Looking into those deep pools of blue she remembered the vision she had while stuck in her mind with the Starheart and a similar one from a few months ago when she was sure it was her time to go.

“Kara, when I was out cold, I had some very vivid visions, some of you and it’s not the first time it’s happened. I saw similar things when I thought I was falling to my death when fighting Sinestro,” she started, and when Kara was about to speak, she put her finger on the woman’s pink lips.

“They’re always the same, us, together, with a family and I promise you no matter what darkness is coming I will fight for that future,” she went on, and Kara just gave a silent nod, behind them Eliza cleared her throat, and they jumped apart like two teenagers being busted making-out.

“As sweet as this is to watch and I’m sure you’re going to give me beautiful grand-children, you should be lying down Lena. So Kara, help your fiancée lay down please,” the Danvers matriarch declared with a smile on her face. 

“I’m fine Eliza,” she protested, but the woman was having none of it as Kara obeyed her adoptive mother, laid her back down on the bed and fluffed out her pillow. 

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Eliza said and took her pulse while checking her eyes with a small flashlight. “Stick out your tongue please,” she ordered her, using a wooden tongue-suppressor and the flashlight to peer into her mouth. “Say aah,” the doctor mom asked.

“Ahhhhhhh,” she obligated and could see Kara giggling behind her adoptive mother with one hand over her mouth, one hand now sporting an engagement ring. 

“Your pulse is slightly elevated, but we can blame proposing to Kara and what she had planned for you for that,” Eliza teased, and both of them blushed. “Otherwise you’re fine, but I want you to take it easy for the next two days, no super-heroics and congratulations, again on your engagement,” she said and gave her a gentle and loving hug. In a way she felt like Eliza has long since adopted her and this only made their familal bond offial.

* * *

Rooftops weren’t where he belonged, James Olsen was quickly finding out as he hauled himself up a fire escape and found Batgirl crouched on the edge of the roof looking at a building across the street.

After sharing a pizza, large with extra pepperoni and chili peppers they’d hit the streets and as quiet as the girl was with her mask on, she had a way of getting information out of people with nothing more than a glare and a growl. Hitting up a few of his regular contacts and letting Batgirl do her thing had guided them to a less than savory part of town.

“Armor heavy?” the girl asked, her voice muffled by her full-face mask and more than just a hint of sarcasm behind it. The girl had been very talkative over their shared pizza but was not back to speaking in as few a words as possible. 

“It’s been a long night, and I’m more of a street-level guy,” he huffed crouching down next to her and following her line of sight to a boarded-up six-story building across the street. 

“No surveillance, no guards, don’t like it,” she said, pulling out a pair of binoculars from her yellow utility belt. 

“Think we got fed bad intel?” he asked as his earpiece crackled and Winn’s voice came through in his ear before Batgirl could reply. 

“Guardian, come in. I’ve got news on the brave and the bold ones,” Winn’s voice rang in his ear a little too loudly, and Batgirl turned her head quizzically towards him. His partner in crime, sort to speak, had been quiet all night being on monitor duty for the DEO what with Supergirl and Green Lantern out of action. 

“I’m here with a new friend, how are they holding up?” he asked quietly as the cowled girl held a finger to her lips.

“Why are you whispering? Is she hot? We’ve talked about not using the Guardian armor to pick up women,” Winn laughed in his earpiece, and this time Batgirl raised an eyebrow.

“Winn focus, what is the news on Supergirl and GL?” he asked and looked apologetically at the cowled woman next to him.

“Green Lantern is awake, but the doctor wants her to stay put for forty-eight hours, and Supergirl wants us all to meet up when they get back apparently something big is coming. Now tell me about this new friend of yours, blonde or brunette?” Winn reported then joked, and he could picture the shit-eating grin on his friend’s face.

“Later,” he hissed into the microphone built into his mask and cut off the comm-link

“Your side-kick talks too much, but thanks for keeping quiet about me. Batman has rules that I'm already breaking by being here with you,” Batgirl said, going way beyond her usual four or so word sentences without taking her eyes from the binoculars, but there was a faint outline of a smile visible through her mask.

“Green Lantern is back on her feet, and Supergirl wants a meeting soon, you in?” he asked and cursed Winn for asking if Batgirl was hot because up until that point he hadn’t given it much thought. Alright, that was a lie, he'd noticed back at her cave, but he was professional vigilante damn it. Black kevlar did look amazing on her though.

“Maybe,” she replied and handed him the binoculars and pointed at a third-story window that had a light in it. 

“What am I looking at?” he asked, peering his eyes through the lenses, not wanting to push the girl into something he let the matter drop, the fact she was helping him already seemed like a big deal. There was no need to expose her to full superfriends craziness yet.

“Movement, every thirty seconds,” she explained and leaned in close, so her cheek pressed against his helmet. Fighting of the distraction, he peered his eyes again, and there was indeed a shadow passing by the window every thirty seconds or so.

“Guard patrol?” he asked and looked to his side, and the girl nodded taking the binoculars back from him and folding them into her belt.

“I go high, you go low, since you're best at street level after all,” she said forgoing her usual way of speaking again and smirked at him through her mask before she pulled out a grappling hook, unfolding it with a flick of her wrist.

“Oh, I can go low, give me a second to get down there,” he said, hauling himself to his feet and again she nodded tapping her left ear.

“Borrowing your frequency,” he heard her soft voice in his ear, and it was a lot better sounding then Winn’s that was for sure. 

“I’ll wait for your signal,” he replied, lowering himself down the fire escape and sliding down jt to the ground level with a heavy thud as his feet hit the pavement.

“Go!” he heard in his ear and getting down had thankfully been much quicker than getting up. On the signal, he saw a grappling hook shot out across the street, and then the silhouette of Batgirl with her cape flaring out behind her glided across the short gap landing on the roof, and he sprinted across the street to get into position by the side-door of the building that opened up into an alley.

“Three, two, one…” he heard Batgirl counting down in his ear and on the one he bashed the lock on the door with his shield. 

“I’m in,” he reported and was met with silence as he made his way towards the stairs. The first floor was clear, the second floor was more problematic, with two guards on patrol. They were dressed much like the guys who’d tried to sabotage Lena Luthor’s fusion reactor. 

“Hurry,” Batgirl’s voice crackled in his ear, and he could hear loud thudding noises coming across the comm-link.

Waiting for the first guard to turn his back he hit him square across the back of the head with his shield and the man went down with a loud crash drawing the attention of the second guard who wasted no time opening fire. Throwing up his shield he grunted as the bullets hit it and running into the hail of gunfire, he slammed the man square in the chest throwing him backward with his gun spraying bullets up the walls. Jumping on top of him, he delivered a good solid right hook across the man’s jaw to knock him out.

“Third floor problematic,” crackled in his ear and he jumped up and ran for the stairs now echoing with the sounds of combat.

“Coming,” he replied and took the stairs two steps at a time before bursting into the third-floor hallway where Batgirl had found the rest of the guards. The cowled hero had already knocked out two of them but was ducking a mountain of a man swinging his spent weapon at her head with the sounds of more guards coming up behind him.

“Go low!” he shouted and seeming to understand him, she swept the man’s legs from underneath him as he dived over her and smashed him across the face with his forearm. His momentum sent them both tumbling into a heap of limbs on the floor, and it drove the air from his lungs.

Shaking his head to regain his senses just as Batgirl jumped over him and kicked one of the oncoming guards square in the face and then she stomped on him for good measure as she landed on top of the unfortunate man.

“Institution is here, Scarecrow must be here,” she shouted at him before breaking into a sprint towards the oncoming guards, and he charged after her with his shield ready. Fighting alongside Batgirl felt incredibly natural and fluid. It was like she could predict his movements and act in concert with him. Each time he punched or slammed one of them with his shield, she was right there to follow up with a swift kick or a toss to knock their target out of the way. 

“Behind me,” he shouted and pulled the lithe hero behind him as the last guard standing outside the only sturdy door on the entire floor opened fire on them and the bullets bounced off his shield. Pulling something out of her belt the girl hurled three projectiles around his shield, and the guard cried out as three sharp bad-shaped throwing stars embedded themselves in his arm, and he took the chance, lunged forward and bashed him with his shield, knocking him out.

“Smooth,” he praised her, and she was already down picking the lock to the door but judging by her grunts having no luck. “Here let me,” he pushed her back, and she gave him a puzzled look as he kicked the door in with a solid kick splintering the lock. 

“Effective,” she observed stepping through the busted open door and following her they found the Scarecrow, unmasked, strapped to a chair and frothing at the mouth with his head bobbing up and down as he muttered incoherently.

"The darkness, the beautiful terrifying darkness," the deranged villain kept repeating as Batgirl went straight to untying him, but this felt wrong and made his old sidekick senses tingle as he looked around hearing popping noises from the hallway outside.

“Shit!” he cursed having been a hero and before that a sidekick long enough to know a trap when he was in one. 

“Batgirl, window, go!” he shouted and grabbed the unconscious man as fast beeps and small flashing red lights confirmed his fears. The last thing he clearly remembered was throwing Scarecrow over his shoulders and jumping through the window hoping that he’d somehow be able to break his fall. Only to be caught from behind by the Batgirl whose cape expanded into a glider and they descended to the ground as the entire building exploded behind them, first into a cloud of green gas before being swept by bright red flames and he knew kryptonite when he saw it. The trap hadn’t been meant for him and Batgirl. It had been for Kara and Lena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now a good writer should never have to explain stuff, but writing this chapter hurt my head a bit so let me give you the cliff notes: The Starheart, while very powerful is not "alive" and what it was telling Lena in her mindscape was for the most part what Lena's subconsciousness was picking from Kara and Gathet's conversation in Chapter 5, thus Lena realizing she's talking to herself at the end.
> 
> P.s. started drafting a new fic while laying on the beach it's a AU no-powers story with Lena becoming Secretary of State after a scandal and Kara is the secret service agent assigned to her. No idea when I'll post it, but it will be my next project after this for sure!


	7. Bats and Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena has a bit of a freakout, Kara is a boss and the brave and the bold duo meet the Batgirl!

It was late Tuesday afternoon and Lena back at work rubbed her temples and groaned, the ring she’d used to propose to Kara while in Cape Hope was splashed across every news site and she wished she was back in that small coastal town right now. CEOs didn't hide though she reminded herself, crumbled navy blue pantsuit notwithstanding she was trying going to somehow deal with what was threatening to become a shitstorm, at least in her mind.

After her brush with the Starheart and short coma which Eliza stressed to her wasn’t a habit she should get into on the regular, her and Kara had spent two days in holed up in their hotel room talking about their future, how to remove the Starheart from her body with the conclusion it would be nigh impossible, and new ideas for tech and inventions. Thus, their romantic getaway had turned into a geeky slumber party mixed with quite a bit of sex and ungodly amounts of take-out and room service. Aside from Eliza giving her a daily check-up they had been interrupted, once, by Ganthet popping in and she was sure Kara was going to fry him with her heat vision for a moment. But the Guardian had brought her a book really more of a tome as a peace offering, which now sat in her laboratory at home awaiting further study. He'd called it the Book of Oa. The book a massive gold bound emerald tome held the complete history of the known universe and even some hints about it's future. It would be very useful indeed but he'd warned that she should only read it with a focused and clear mind or risk being overwhelmed.

That had been the weekend, but now they were back in the reality of their civilian identities, and the official announcement had been made that she was indeed marrying Kara Danvers. They’d issued a public statement complete with cute photos of them, courtesy of James Olsen who was being weirdly cool about the whole thing, where Kara showed off her ring and unknown to all but those in their inner circle they had also shown off their Kryptonian bracelets in those photos. 

Now that it was all set and done, the headlines combined with what James told them after the photoshoot about the Kryptonite laced fear gas trap which he’d narrowly escaped and how it meant that somebody was targeting them again, and finally the fact Batgirl was prowling around in the night hunting Gotham criminals on the Institution's payroll it all put her even more on edge and made her head hurt trying to calculate all the variables. 

Letting out a long groan of frustration she gave some serious thought to banging her head against the desk to relieve the tension headache she felt growing but was interrupted before she could put that theory into practice.

“What’s the matter?” Jess asked stepping into her office with her heels clicking on the floor and a concerned look on her face. “Cassandra called me and said she heard what sounded like the death throes of a Mongolian yack coming from your office,” her COO explained with a grin.

“What am I doing Jess?” she asked, trying to encompass all the shit going down in her life right now, before resorting to turning her laptop around showing the front page of one National City’s foremost celebrity gossip website. The headline Lena Luthor to marry blonde bombshell fitness enthusiast reporter! Was plastered across its top banner, with a picture of Kara taken during a charity event wearing her best deep-blue backless dress that showed off how incredibly good shape the reporter really was in. 

“Kara is going to freak out when she sees this, I just know it!” she groaned and banged her head lightly against her desk. It was sort of working actually, focus on one crisis at a time Luthor she told herself.

“I think you might be overreacting a little bit here Lena. Remember that Kara is tougher than she looks,” Jess assured her as she looked up with a frown mostly at herself for being like this. Friends and family were great and all that, but sometimes all the variables they brought into her life drove her a bit crazy. 

“I didn’t think this through, it was bad enough when we were living together, but now with the engagement having been made official the media is worse than ever,” she bemoaned and buried her head in her hands. 

“I must say, this is very unlike you and you’re smart enough to know that this will die down,” Jess commented and glanced at the screen. “It’s a very good picture of Kara though, but you two should come up with an explanation for why she’s in such amazing shape, maybe CrossFit?” she suggested seemingly unfazed by her ongoing freak-out.

“Kara does weights and kickboxing,” she answered without thinking about it having watched Kara’s workout routine with great interest many times and something about watching the sweating blonde lifting weights under red sun lamps made her feel gooey inside. That was a lie of course, because she knew exactly why the blonde's muscular body had that effect on her and had fond memories in that regard. Even without yellow sunlight fueling her cells, Kara had become quite strong and one time she'd proven how strong by picking her up under the red sun lamps in their gym and then proceeded to... she cut herself off from that particular train of thought and focused on her the mess that was her here and now. 

“And why are you so calm about this? Our track record for secret identities being secret is kind of horrible,” she reminded her former-assistant, who had among her many duties taken it upon herself to aid them in keeping their superhero alter-egos secret.

“Because after the pictures got posted, nothing pinged on my alert system or on Alex's at the DEO and you’re just having post-proposal jitters,” the woman laughed and went on bringing her to an understanding. “Look at this way, before you proposed, it wasn’t real, but now that you’ve put a ring on it. It is very real and out of your control and sorry to say, but you’re a bit of a control freak,” Jess went on and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I’m not… alright maybe a little bit, but I swear I’ve not been this nervous since taking over L-Corp,” she admitted and looked down at her wrists and the two bracelets Kara had given her as part of their Kryptonian engagement.

“It’s alright to be nervous Lena, you’re marrying Kara Danvers who is by all accounts is way out of your league! Now say it a few times out loud for me, say that you're marring Kara Danvers” Jess teased her and then encouraged her with a smile.

“I’m marrying Kara Danvers,” she grumbled offhandedly feeling a bit silly about saying it out loud like that. Though Jess was right, Kara no matter Danvers or Zor-El had always been way out of her league, but stubbornness, fearlessness and dumb luck mixed with true love had won the day she thought. Oh dancing electrons, Kara's wordiness was contagious!

“Oh, you can say it louder than that, let me hear you say it Lena,” Jess laughed and motioned for her to truly belt it out.

“I’m marrying Kara Danvers,” she said, a bit louder and it felt good to acknowledge it, making heart sore and the Starheart seemed to respond to her emotional state by pulsating warmly within her.

“Now say I’m marrying Kara Danvers, and everything is going to be okay,” Jess instructed her to keep going with a big happy smile on her lips.

“I’m marrying Kara Danvers, and everything is going to be okay!” she declared loudly and threw her hands up in the air. “Tesla’s coils that felt good to say out loud,” she said smiling at Jess who uncharacteristically high-fived her. 

“I think Kara has rubbed off on the both of us,” Jess laughed and closed the laptop putting the headlines out of sight and out of mind.

“She has that effect,” she said, unable to stop smiling, she did something impulsive much like Kara would do, babbling and all. “Alright, freak-out averted, and I know you’re not my assistant anymore, but you can you maybe, you know as a friend, help me plan this wedding and maybe if you want to be, be my maid of honor, well really best woman because I kind of called dips on wearing a tux already?” she asked, well blurted out hopefully without making eye-contact or blushing. It felt like asking someone to be her friend when she'd been about six years old. 

“I’d be honored,” Jess simply said and bending down gave her a hug and in another recent development, she cried a little bit, just in time for Kara to arrive and be confused by what she saw. Having made strides in letting people in over the past few months, the feeling of having friends and family still hit her like a ton of bricks at times. 

“Uh, what did I miss? Because Cassandra told me you guys were making funny noises in here,” the blonde reporter wearing a sensible skirt and cardigan and holding a bag of doughnuts asked looking between them. On her finger, the diamond and emeralds engagement ring sparkled against the paper bag holding their snacks. 

“Oh sorry, I was having a moment and Jess helped me through it,” she apologized to her confused looking fiancée “Oh and she’s my maid of honor slash best woman now,” she added with a goofy grin.

“Perfect, since I already asked Alex to be mine, so I guess the best man slash woman is sleeping with the maid of honor already,” Kara exclaimed with a sound of relief in her voice that nothing serious had happened.

“Kara…” they both gasped at the forwardness as the blonde smiled innocently and started doling out the doughnuts. 

“Also, I’m thinking of a beach wedding, somewhere remote, I mean I am a trophy fitness model reporter fiancée of a billionaire playgirl with the heart of gold right?” the blonde joked, chewing on a generous bite of her pink sprinkles doughnut and she groaned burying her head in her hands again as Jess patted her back. All that freaking out had been for nothing and she had been too caught up in her own head to see that.

“What I’m a journalist, I start my day by literally checking the news no matter how sordid and trashy,” Kara said with a shrug and a knowing smirk, swallowing her doughnut and licking her fingers clean nonchalantly.

“Lena was worried about your reaction, that’s all,” Jess apologized for her as she pounded her head against the desk a few more times for good measure, the headache was still there and maybe the noise would scare the women away. Lena Luthor wasn’t always rational after all.

“I’ve been called worse,” the blonde reporter dismissed the headlines with a wave of her engagement ring adorned hand assuming the airs of Kara Zor-El for a moment.

“Just leave me to my control-freak shame,” she groaned looking up from her desk only to have Kara push a doughnut towards her with a beaming million-watt smile of concern and understanding. 

“Eat up, your big brain just needs sugar, but I am serious about that beach thing. We can take everyone there and it will give us privacy to be ourselves,” the smiling blonde told her and perched herself on the edge of her desk. 

“I can do that, you’re really fine with the gossip rags calling you those things?” she asked biting into the red and blue doughnut called the Supergirl being special mindful of the cream filling. 

“As I said I’ve been called way worse plus we've got bigger things to worry about,” Kara assured her and patted her head. “Now relax that magnificent mind of yours and eat,” the blonde urged her as Jess took her leave of them with a knowing smile.

“Thanks for stopping by,” she said with a smile, sitting up and finishing her doughnut while Kara watched her with a thoughtful look before speaking. 

“Lena, it’s super sweet that you worry about me so much, but you do know that I’m not going to wilt away under pressure, right?” the blonde asked, putting her fingers under her chin to lift it up. 

“I know, but you’re not the only one with the protective streak though,” she admitted as Kara ran her thumb along her bottom lip wiping away some doughnut crumbs.

“Trust me I know and we both have a bad habit of getting stuck in our own heads, but remember Girl of Steel isn't merely a cute nickname,” the blonde agreed, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before pulling back. 

“And that quick of a kiss tells me that you didn’t come here just to feed me and kiss me,” she laughed leaning back in her chair and watching the blonde now perched on the corner of her desk.

“Busted! I’m heading to the apartment building that James told us about, the one they found Scarecrow in, hoping to pick up some clues,” the blonde reporter said pushing her glasses up her nose.

“And I can help how? I’m the billionaire playgirl with the heart of gold, not the reporter,” she joked and Kara gave a small laugh before becoming all business.

“I was hoping you could tag along, you know do a team-up and maybe use the ring to scan for teleportation traces, there were no bodies recovered from the fire, so they had to have gone somewhere right?” the blonde asked whispering the word team-up and she did have a point.

James had filled them in on his encounter with Batgirl during a crisis meeting at their apartment once they’d returned, and how his team-up with the caped and cowled woman that resulted in Gotham City’s Scarecrow now enjoying the DEO’s and Alex's hospitality. Everybody had been shaken and worried at the fact the Institution had used Kryptonite laced fear-gas, and to make matters worse now the Batgirl was nowhere to be found with James reporting her hideout having gone silent. So, it was time for National City’s brave and bold defenders to take a closer look. 

“I can free up the rest of my day, sure,” she said, turning power her ring around and loving the idea of a team-up as she got to her feet, as Kara hopped down from her desk smoothing down her clothes. “Let me give Cassandra her marching orders and we can fly there on the bus,” she teased her fiancée despite the seriousness of the situation.

“You’re never going to let me live that one down, are you?” Kara asked with a hint of a pout as she comforted herself by eating another doughnut. How the blonde could consume a doughnut in two bites wasn’t high on the list of amazing things her fiancée could accomplish, but it was up there.

“Not a chance,” she said with a grin, offering her arm to the blonde reporter which dispelled the pout in an instant. Time to go be masked detectives and figure out exactly who wanted them dead this time.

* * *

Arriving at the address James had given them they found that there wasn’t much left of the building, with the top floors reduced to burnt-out husks and she remained on high alert for any traces of Kryptonite in the air. Thankfully Kara’s full-body super suit was resistant to kryptonite by design and she had outfitted them both with glowing green air-masks. 

“Ring any signs of kryptonite?” she asked scanning the building with a sweeping emerald beam as Kara hovered next to her doing the same with her vision powers and her amazingly sensitive nose which wrinkled a bit at the smell of wet ashes.

“Negative Green Lantern 2814,” the ring droned, and Kara gave a chuckle from behind her ring generated mask before pulling it off. 

“Why does Ringy always sound so bored?” the blonde hero asked and the mask in her hand faded into green sparkles and the blonde absentmindedly played with the emerald flakes of light as they dissolved into the air. 

“Ringy?” she asked backed and raised an eyebrow behind her green mask as Kara floated closer to the burnt-out building with her cape billowing behind her and even as Supergirl she wore her suitor's bracelets openly. While the engagement ring remained on a chain around her neck under the suit. The thought of that made her heart do a little flutter, having a double claim on Kara Danvers forever and ever made her little CEO heart flutter indeed.

“Good a name as any, now you are sure that you got the Starheart under control, right?” the blonde hero asked poking her finger at a charred window frame. 

“It’s been quiet since my little coma talk with it,” she answered, turning her mind inward and she felt the warmth in her chest. The Starheart was still there, dormant and with its whispering voice telling her it was alright. 

“Good, and you know you don’t need Ringy right?” Kara asked floating in through a missing piece of wall that marked the epicenter of the explosion. 

Looking down at her ring she turned it towards her to look at the Green Lantern insignia on it. Of course she knew, she'd known ever since her fight with Sinestro and it had been reinforced when Kara had filled her in on the little chat between herself and Ganthet. The blue space-grandpa, who she was still pissed at, in an effort to make amends had confirmed that her wielding the green light of willpower unaided it had nothing to do with the Starheart. The ring was a tool, but she could do what it did with her mind, it took a ton of effort of course and the nosebleeds weren't a good look.

“Earth to GL,” the blond hero called out where she floated at what had been the center of the explosion snapping her back to reality. 

“Sorry, thinking,” she apologized and started scanning again, marking each teleportation spot she could find with a green circle and trails of light shot into the sky to mark the potential vectors. “I’m finding no traces of the bodies, so Guardian will be glad to hear that nobody died here,” she concluded sticking to codenames.

“Good, he was beating himself up about that earlier,” Kara said sounding relieved. “You think it’s weird that Batgirl worked with him and then vanished?" the blonde hero asked touching down on the creaking floorboards. 

"He did say that the bat heroes all operate under orders from Batman, so maybe she got called home to Gotham once Scarecrow was busted," she said tapping her ring finger against her cheek.

"I don’t think she left there were reports of her from last night on my desk. So, how about we be nice superhero neighbors and fly by that warehouse, maybe bring a housewarming gift?" Kara suggested with a grin, clearly wanting to make friends with the new masked hero.

"Nice idea, but first you go up high and do a wide sweep while I analyze things closer to the ground," she chuckled as the blonde nodded and flew up higher to scan the surroundings with her senses.

Wondering what kind of housewarming gift you brought masked vigilante for her cave, she conjured up her Green Lantern CSI lab in midair, Kara came up with the best names for things. 

She floated between glowing green ring generated terminals and looked at energy signatures while calculating potential vectors all in an effort to try to pinpoint the cloaked satellites she knew had to be in orbit. Bringing up three giant glowing screens to surrounded her and she manipulated the data with her fingers while chewing on her bottom lip as she processed it. Then something she saw gave her a reason to pause.

Catching her greenish reflection in one of the screens she noticed that emerald flames were dancing in her hair and on a whim she undid her tight ponytail and shook it out. Her hair started dancing upright with green fire the moment she did it. Smiling and deciding to experiment a tiny bit and maybe speed up the process of finding answers. Closing her eyes, she focused and tapped into a fraction of the Starheart’s power and what she saw when she opened them again blew her mind. 

In front of her eyes she could now see radio signals, electromagnetic forces and if she focused, she could see the very air molecules they were breathing. Furthermore, she could see that everything was connected too, the people, the birds in the sky, everything seemingly vibrating in harmony to some unseen tune.

"Hey, you alright?" Kara asked floating down in front of her waving a hand in front of her face to get her attention and sweet string theory the woman glowed with power. In that moment Lena understood everything about Kara Zor-El's potential and power.

"You're… beautiful…." she said in stunned voice seeing the coils of energy dancing around Kara that with her Starheart enhanced senses she could now see. It was like looking at a soft x-ray filtered image of the sun. Kara literally glowed with power and energy that seemed to twist and curl itself around her being.

"Well thank you… but are you okay? I hate to say this again, but you are kind of on fire…" Kara replied speaking slowly and clearly worried at her use of the Starheart's power. Sapphire blue eyes darting around like they always did when the blonde was thinking at speeds not even she could keep up with.

"Kara, wow and I mean freaking wow. I wish you could see what I'm seeing," she said in awe and a small smile signaled that Kara's formidable mind had caught up with what she was trying and failing to put into words.

"Tell me what you see?" The blonde hero asked and when she smiled Lena could see a burst of energy erupting from the woman across several spectrums. 

"I see electromagnetic currents, radio waves, x-rays, different wavelengths of light. If I focus, I can see the engagement ring you keep around your neck and I can see its atomic structure… Kara, it's…" she tried to explain it, but she was a scientist, not a poet.

"It's like staring into infinity itself and realizing that we're all star stuff bound together by the unifying forces of the universe as they come together in the chorus of creation," Kara the reporter supplied the description for her with a smile.

"You… see it too?" she asked holding out her hands for her beloved to take and despite them being covered in flickering emerald flames Kara took them without fear or hesitation.

"When I want to, yes, it's one of the reasons why I care so much. When you see that we're all just the same and how the energy flows through us and binds us, it's easy to be kind to everyone," the blonde hero explained as they floated higher and higher until they could see the curvature of the Earth.

"We're getting a bit sidetracked, aren't we?" she joked sheepishly at being so distracted as Kara smiled and then those sapphire blue eyes began to glow a soft reddish-golden color. Hopping Higgs Boson, that was new, but as always, those eyes just drew her in like the gravitational pull of a black hole of love.

"Oh, shush and look at me Lena, I never thought I'd be able to share this with someone, not like this" the blonde admitted and bathed in yellow sunlight unhindered by Earth's atmosphere her entire being seemed to glow all the brighter. 

"Planck's constant…" she gasped as Kara's aura, electromagnetic field, whatever it was, flared up brighter to her enhanced senses and all those times she'd called Kara a goddess proved to be far closer to the truth than she ever could have imagined.

"You're beautiful too Lena, when I look at you like this, you are like an emerald star," Kara said softly with her eyes aglow and it was like she was facing the sunrise. Seeing tiny ice crystals forming on the blonde’s blue suit, it was like Kara was covered in sparkling diamonds.

"You are… a goddess…" she managed to say as it all started to overwhelm her, seeing or more accurately sensing everything was taxing even for her in Kara’s words magnificent mind and she was having trouble processing it all.

Kara gave a shy smile and floated them back down with the ice crystals that hard formed around the blonde hero melting away into droplets that glistened on the metallic fabric of her suit. She was dumbstruck and again wished she was a poet. Kara had just revealed her limitless power to her and again surprised her. Pulling herself away from the Starheart's power she felt her vision returning to normal and there in living color was Kara still smiling shyly as they hovered over the National City skyline.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but it's hard to explain it to someone who can't see things as I do," the blonde apologized blushing slightly. 

"It's so much power you have within you, if I hadn't been able to see it for myself it would have been hard to believe," she said speaking quietly as they still held hands.

"I didn't know myself until recently, I used it to intimidate Ganthet and well…" the blonde trailed off with her eyes assuming their blue color again and she looked embarrassed for having done what she did after the supernova Starheart flare-up.

"Hey blue space-grandpa had it coming, and I have a theory that the longer you're exposed to yellow sunlight the stronger you get. This partly confirmed it," she assured her fiancée and smiled.

"Good… that's good… I felt like it was some big secret and I wasn't going to keep it a secret forever and please don't hate me…" Kara spoke fast again and to shut the woman up she kissed her. There was, something uniquely thrilling about kissing Kara while in uniform and she decided that later she'd explore that idea further.

"Kara relax I was the one exploding a few days ago, and if you needed time I understand," she said once the blonde hero had been sufficiently silenced. 

"Like I said before we both can get stuck in our heads," Kara smiled then frowned before squinting her eyes into the distance over the top of her head and growling under her breath. "That sneaky… good for nothing… hold on…" she spoke in half sentences before zooming off to a rooftop off in the distance.

"Kara who…" she started asking but the blonde was already gone. Dismissing her conjured lab before giving chase, she found Kara standing on a rooftop several blocks away in her power pose staring down Batgirl. To her credit, the girl was staring right back at the blonde Kryptonian looking equally indomitable and unyielding.

"... and furthermore I don't like being spied on," Kara sounding slightly pissed off was finishing whatever she'd been telling the masked woman.

"Not my idea," Batgirl replied defensively with her arms crossed defiantly over her chest. Much like when she had encountered her at the L-Corp’s labs the woman was dressed head to toe in black, save for a yellow utility belt and the outline of the bat-crest on her chest. Again, her mask covered her face completely and the distinctive black cape swirled around her feet in the light breeze. Kara and Batgirl made for a striking contrast with Kara's blue suit glimmering in the light of the setting sun and her flowing blonde hair and red cape blowing in the same breeze.

"Don't care, this is my city and here heroes don't spy on other heroes, bad guys sometimes" Kara stated but then before she had to intervene between the two, Batgirl did what she considered a very smart thing. The cowled young woman apologized.

"Sorry," the masked hero said in a quiet muffled voice. "Can we start over?" she then asked sticking out her hand and with that apology, Kara’s look went from a frown to welcoming smile in a heartbeat.

"See, it's not so hard to be nice," the blonde hero said shaking the offered hand. "And thanks for helping out at L-Corp the other day,” the ever-cheerful hero went on now with her smile out in full force. “Oh, and I love your cape by the way,” she added radiating so much friendliness that Batgirl cracked a smile behind her mask.

"Does this mean I don't get Supergirl v. Batgirl?" she asked floating down next to Kara with a smirk and Batgirl looked at her with one raised eyebrow.

"Why would we do that?" Kara asked looking puzzled. "We talked things out, kinda, and we're cool now, right Batgirl?" she then asked and the dark hero nodded

"Batgirl,” she greeted the cowled woman and offering her ring-hand for the woman to shake. 

“Lena Luthor,” Batgirl nodded shaking her hand. “I saw, in the lab,” she added sounding apologetic, and Lena cursed under her breath. Of course Batgirl knew, she’d been blasting Institution goons left and right with green fire without suiting up during the raid on her reactor. So, if the girl knew then why not be herself she decided and pulled off her mask letting her eyes glow slightly green instead.

“And I guess you’re not going to tell me who you are?” she asked and felt Kara elbow her in the ribs for probing like that.

“Against rules, sorry,” the cowled girl apologized giving a little shrug and tapping the bat-crest on her chest. “His rules,” she explained. 

“So ixnay on the secret identity pokey,” the blonde hissed out of the corner of her mouth and she threw her an apologetic look. 

“Worth a shot,” she shrugged in response and summoned up a couch and an armchair for them. Then deciding to be fancy she focused her willpower more and constructed an entire office of green light around them for privacy complete with a green hologram of Jess taking notes.

"Let's talk, shall we?" she suggested and both girls looked at her with looks of perhaps impressed confusion but sat down as ordered. Kara on the couch and Batgirl on the armchair facing it before she took her seat next to Kara.

"Batgirl is it safe to assume you're breaking some rules by talking to us?" she asked the cowled hero getting straight to the point and the girl nodded. Because she was very much a girl from what she could tell.

"That sucks!" Kara exclaimed crossing her arms across her chest and she knew how the blonde advocated working together and friendship, so this had to be pissing her off something fierce.

"Rules," Batgirl said with a shrug of her shoulders sitting with her legs crossed in the glowing green armchair. Wiggling a bit and poking it to test the solidity of the construction. 

"But you did work with Guardian," she reminded the girl with a smirk and she was sure the girl blushed underneath her full-face mask before sitting up a bit straighter.

"James is cute," Batgirl admitted looking down at her lap. "Lapse in judgment," she then explained quickly, and Kara gave an adorable little squee sound.

"It gets lonely in the cave, say no more," she said and smiled what she hoped was an encouraging smile. 

"Batman found out and said I should focus on the mission," Batgirl now sounding slightly angry even with her mask muffled voice. This was the cowled girl’s real personality shining through, no clipped words or short abrupt sentences. It felt weird hearing about Batman like this, to the people outside of Gotham the Batman was very much and urban legend. 

"I don’t care what he says, in this town we work together," Kara said and leaned forward taking the girl's hands in hers. "And Batman if doesn't like that tell him to come and talk to me!" she declared firmly and again the girl smiled.

"Or we could simply not tell him," she suggested. "I assume taking James to your hideout was the big no-no?" she asked Batgirl who again nodded. The girl sounded like she was on a short leash from her mentor in Gotham and that annoyed her and clearly Kara as well. 

"GL could make sure your cave is private, " Kara suggested picking up on her train of thought as Batgirl raised a questioning eyebrow. 

"It wouldn't be too hard," she said making her ring flash as she grinned and Batgirl's smile spread beneath her mask.

"What you say Batgirl let's all be friends and fuck Batman's rules?" Kara cursed sticking out her hand and she did a spit take never having heard Kara curse in uniform before.

"Fuck Batman!" Batgirl declared after thinking it over for a moment and shook Kara's hand firmly and empathetically. 

"It would also mean more James Olsen," she teased the cowled hero whose mouth popped open for a split second before closing again. This might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship she thought or at least they now had an extra pair of hands to fight what was to come. 

“Your belt is ringing?” Batgirl asked as a small light on Kara’s belt buckle started flashing and the blonde raised her wrist to her lips. A few months ago she’d built cell phone circuitry into Kara’s suit, elimination the need for the so-called boot phone.

“Agent Danvers what’s the sitch,” Kara answered with an apologetic smile to them both and put two fingers to the almost invisible earpiece she wore in her left ear. “Okay, we’ll come right over, is it okay if we bring a friend?” the blonde asked. “Just trust me on this one, you'll love her,” she went on carrying on a conversation they could only hear the half of.

“Scarecrow is awake, and A… Agent Danvers says we can come in and talk to him,” the blonde filled them in catching herself before using Alex’s name and Batgirl cracked her knuckles. It was time to get some answers, who, what and where those were at the top of her list. Putting her mask back on she dissolved the make-shift office around them before generating a green bubble around to fly them to the DEO building. Only polite after all since she was fairly sure Batgirl couldn’t fly.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the far reaches of space, near the Milky Way's galactic core on a dead planet orbiting a brown dwarf star that had long since burned out. A low howl could be heard and a from the black tar-like sludge that covered the planet’s surface, a being began to take a humanoid form. Raising its half-formed head to the stars above it howled in rage at very creation itself. At the same time in the lab in Lena and Kara's apartment hidden behind a bookcase accessible by pulling at Tolkien's The Hobbit, on a stand the Book of Oa opened onto a blank page and bleeding black letters started appearing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that you've read the chapter I'm going to admit that it is actually the second version. I had it written and completed a very different chapter 7, but I scrapped it because I felt it focused on the wrong things and made the first meeting between the trio of Lena, Kara and Batgirl not as special as I wanted it to be. 
> 
> And yes I'm stealing the line, Fuck Batman! from that god awful Titans live-action TV Show. I hate that show with the power of a billion exploding suns!
> 
> I also realize that the actual plot and big-bad in this story is much more of a slow burn in the background then it was in the first story, that's by design because I wanted this to be more about Lena and Kara growing together and getting married (eventually)


	8. Good Cop, Bad Cop, Bat Cop!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls head to the DEO to get some answers and Kara reveals a new side to her

This was the first time Lena had been at the DEO since her fight with Sinestro and having spent almost two weeks in their medical wing recovering. Even though she and Alex were on friendly terms now, what with Alex’s relationship with Jess her now best friend and confidant and her own impending nuptials with Kara. Professionally they were still somewhat at odds however, as she didn’t like secret government agencies on principle and Alex didn’t like big businesses who made their own fusion reactors also on principle. 

Floating herself, Kara and Batgirl in through the large window Kara usually arrived through as Supergirl she gently landed them in front of a waiting J’onn and Alex dissolving the green orb around them and right away Batgirl was on edge. With the most likely explanation being that the girl was used to working alone and unseen in the shadows and this many eyes on her made her uncomfortable. Kara ever the sensitive soul put her hand on the girl’s arm, and she seemed to calm down.

“Agent Danvers,” she greeted their welcoming party and taking the lead. “Director,” she nodded at the Martian Manhunter in his civilian guise. 

“Green Lantern, it’s been a while,” J’onn greeted her and stuck out her hand which she shook, and the man’s grip was firm and strong as always.

“You’re looking better than the last time I saw you,” she said with a smirk, but honestly was glad that the man Kara considered her father figure had recovered from the beating Sinestro had delivered to him.

“Likewise,” he nodded and gave a small smile. “We should have a chat sometimes,” he offered, and she nodded at him catching his meaning right away. Time for the so you’re marrying my little girl talk, which would be a continuation of their so you’re dating my little girl talk they’d had right before Sinestro’s attack.

“Yes sir,” she said firmly and turned her attention to Alex who was watching Batgirl like a hawk as Kara whispered something to the tense-looking young woman.

“Maybe we should move this to somewhere less crowded?” she suggests and flashed Alex a quick smile before glancing at the nervous batgirl.

“Follow me,” Alex said in full Agent Danvers mode and they fell into line behind her as she marched them through the corridors of the DEO. The further away they got from the crowded areas the more at ease Batgirl seemed to be.

“Who is your friend?” Alex asked her sister who’d fallen in step beside the agent as she and Batgirl brought up the rear. It was obvious to see that Batgirl was constantly scanning her surroundings as the girl held onto the edges of her cape.

“Batgirl, she’s new and we’re teaching her about friendship and teamwork,” Kara answered with a beaming smile to which Batgirl gave a small groan and she threw her a sympathetic look. 

“Welcome to National City,” Alex said looking back at the girl who in return nodded her thanks before they filed into a small room looking into an interrogation room through a two-way mirror.

“Here we are, one Gotham City supervillain, alias Scarecrow, real name Dr. Jonathan Crane,” Alex introduced them to the handcuffed man, without his mask he was quite ordinary, perhaps a bit on the skinny side, with wire-framed glasses on his face and well-groomed hair in a DEO issued prisoner jumpsuit.

Stepping up to the glass she studied the man that had set a trap to kill them or more accurately had been the bait. If not for the Starheart going crazy the trap might have worked too. Kara and Batgirl stepped up on either side of her and she could feel the disdain coming of the cowled woman and the pity Kara felt for the man. 

“Has he said anything?” she asked Alex who stood behind them with her arms crossed over her chest. 

“Only that the darkness is coming and that it’s beautiful,” the agent answered with a worried frown. “Fits with what you told us a bit too well right?” she then asked, and Batgirl raised an eyebrow.

“We’ll fill you in later,” Kara whispered to the girl with an apologetic look and the blonde had a way to smooth things over she wished she possessed.

“Alright, how do we want to do this?” she asked looking between the two caped heroes. Again, she was struck by the contrast between the two and also rather sheepishly wondered if she should make herself a cape too.

“Good cop, nice cop?” Kara suggested without a hint of irony and Batgirl tried to fight a smile underneath the mask that was like a second skin over her face. 

“Batgirl knows his kind best, so she can take the lead and then we back her up?” she suggested, and Batgirl cracked her knuckles with a grin. 

“Nothing physical, this is still a government facility,” Alex spoke up and Batgirl dropped her hands to her sides.

“Wasn’t going to hurt him, agent Danvers,” the girl spoke for the first time. “But I do have many ways of making his kind talk,” she said with a grin and squared her shoulders pulling herself up to her full height.

“Can I have his file?” Kara asked and Alex handed it over. “Thanks, helps to know what you’re getting into,” the blonde hero said with a smile.

“Noted, hold it up for me for a second?” she asked and scanned the front of the file with her ring. It was a new trick she was trying out, but it worked, and she immediately knew the contents of the entire file. “I’m good, let’s go?” she asked with Batgirl and Kara both staring at her in disbelief. 

They filed into the interrogation room with Batgirl in the lead, followed by her and Kara bringing up the rear. Batgirl leaned over the integration desk the man was handcuffed too with her gauntleted fists pressing on it. 

“Hello Dr. Crane,” she greeted him in a low gruff voice as they took up positions on either side of her, Kara slowly paging through his file while she had her hands on her hips but was discreetly scanning him with her ring. 

“Batgirl, you’re far away from home and you brought such lovely friends with you too,” the man spoke in a low drawl sounding almost drugged. Glaring at the man had no effect and Kara was ignoring him instead browsing through his file. 

“Where are the men who paid you?” Batgirl demanded glaring holes through the villain as she shared a look with Kara and the blonde shook her head. The ring wasn’t picking up anything in the man’s system and Kara’s senses were turning up empty too.

“I assure you I’m not drugged, Supergirl, Green Lantern,” he greeted them ignoring Batgirl’s question and held his handcuffed hands out open. Somehow, he’d detected them scanning him.

“How?” she asked him openly pointing her ring at him for a proper scan and he giggled when the green beam of light swept over him. He was human that was for sure with some interesting chemicals present in his system, but still human.

“It tickles, and I’m a psychologist and you two aren’t as subtle as you think,” he laughed and waved away her green scanning beam. Even handcuffed and stripped of his mask and fear gas, once you were up close to him there was a quiet menace to the man. 

“The Institution, Crane, where are they?” Batgirl asked in a growl, squeezing her fists on the table, making the Kevlar of her gauntlets creak. The woman’s technique wasn’t subtle that was for sure.

“Oh, cease your posturing Batgirl, it barely works when your mentor does it and you’re no Batman,” he said sounding almost offended. “And if I knew where they were, I would have told the lovely Agent Danvers out there,” he answered and looked at the two-way mirror and waved at it.

“What is the darkness Dr. Crane?” she asked him, and his eyes lit up behind his glasses as he leaned back in his chair as far as the chain of the handcuffs would allow. 

“You’re the smart one I see, but why should I tell you that Lantern, when the fear of it gnaws at you?” he cackled with his face twisting into terrifying visage. The mad cackling echoed in the room as he started rattling his chains and banging his arms against the table. 

“Oh but it’s coming for you Lantern, it’s coming to blanket out your precious green light!” he howled with eyes bulging out in his head and she pointed the ring at him with her fist clenched ready to blast him as Batgirl pulled a bat-symbol-shaped throwing star out of her belt.

“Leave me with him,” Kara spoke up in a quiet but commanding voice, having stepped back slightly letting them take the lead. Now holding out her arms she pushed both their arms down without any effort. 

“Supergirl?” she asked almost saying Kara at first but catching herself and Kara’s blue eyes met hers before glancing at Batgirl. The determined look on the woman’s face spoke volumes and she nodded. “I’ll be right outside,” she promised and squeezed the blonde hero’s hand.

“We’re not done Crane,” Batgirl growled at the villain, turned with her cape swirling behind her and stalked out of the room before she followed. Taking up positions behind the two-way mirror they watched Kara pull up a chair and sit down across from the man known as the Scarecrow.

“Turn off the cameras and leave the room,” Alex ordered the officer on duty, right before Kara spoke up, the agent was quite used to her adoptive sister’s impulsive actions and wasn’t taking any risks.

“Hi, we haven’t been introduced, I’m Kara Zor-El,” the blond introduced herself in a friendly and conversational tone of voice. She recognized it as the same tactic the blonde used when interviewing someone, but there was an edge to her voice, something you wouldn’t notice unless you spent a lot of time with her. 

“I… I’m Jonathan Crane,” the man answered seemingly taken aback by the blonde’s approach after Batgirl’s growling veiled threats.

“Nice to meet you Jonathan or do you prefer Dr. Crane?” Kara asked and the man looked at her trying to determine if this was some sort of trick.

“Jonathan,” he answered slowly eyeing the blonde with suspicion as Kara smiled back at him and looked at the two-way mirror. 

“Can I get two doughnuts and some tea in here please Agent Danvers?” she asked and behind her, she could hear Alex groaning, but going along with her sister’s plan, whatever it was.

Volunteering to bring in the requested snacks, she placed the tray on the table between the two and she shared a quick look with Kara. The blonde gave a small smile and that assured her that the blonde knew exactly what she was doing. It was probably going to be risky and impulsive, but she trusted Kara.

“How do you take your tea, Jonathan?” Kara asked stirring sugar into her cup and all they could do was watch in confusion. Well, Batgirl and Alex were confused but she had a fairly good idea what Kara was playing at.

“Two sugars please,” the man answered becoming almost polite even though his eyes looked weary of the friendly Kryptonian, before eyeing the doughnuts. 

“Don’t they look yummy, they brought us sprinkled ones, I love sprinkles,” Kara went on making him a cup of tea and sliding it over.

“Thank you, but it will be hard to drink this,” the villain answered holding up his hands which were chained to the table.

“Oh, that’s no problem,” Kara laughed and snapped the chain with a flick of her finger and behind her Alex cursed. Watching this was becoming quite entertaining at least, as Alex’s cursing grew louder the more rules and regulations Kara broke. 

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll bolt for the door, lunge across this table and claw your eyes out?” the Scarecrow asked sipping his tea. 

“Please don’t embarrass yourself, Jonathan, I can move faster than your neurons can fire,” Kara simply dismissed him and bit into her doughnut. 

“What do you want Supergirl?” he asked eyeing her suspiciously almost warily as she licked her fingers clean and sipped her tea. Watching Kara do something so Danvers-y while dressed as Supergirl, was an odd sight, but in the end, it was simply a setup. 

“We’re going to have a chat, Jonathan, and you’re going to tell me everything you know,” Kara smiled at him winningly putting her cup down as he sipped his tea and gave her a mocking look.

“Like I told the Bat-brat and your glowing green girlfriend I’m not in a sharing mood, so unless you give me a very good reason I don’t see any… oh my god!” he went from calm and collected to spitting out his tea.

Behind the two-way mirror, everyone was taken aback by what they were witnessing, and she had to stop Alex from rushing into the room as Batgirl cocked her head to the side at the sight that greeted them. Kara’s eyes were glowing golden-red and she was smirking evilly at the Scarecrow, what was the most striking change was the difference in her voice, it sounded guttural like when she’d been a Red Lantern briefly in their fight against Sinestro.

“Fear! That’s why you should tell me, Jonathan, because you should be afraid, afraid of me,” Kara spoke in that horrible guttural growl as she had to barricade the door with glowing green sandbags to keep Alex away from the room.

“She knows what she’s doing agent Danvers,” she stressed to the woman who was clearly worried about her adoptive sister. Then she grabbed Alex’s arm and pulled the agent towards her quickly and whispered. “Trust her,” and the woman stopped, looked at her with a look that said you better be right Luthor and stalked back to the two-way mirror.

“You better be right, Green Lantern,” Alex said out loud for good measure while composing herself and she could feel Batgirl looking at them with keen interest. They really did suck at keeping secret identities. In the meanwhile, Kara was putting the fear of Rao in Scarecrow.

“What… are you?” the villain shrieked covering his face with his hand like a child trying to hide as Kara was now floating up out of her chair looking down at him like he was nothing more than an insect.

“I’m Kara Zor-El of Krypton, I’m the hammer of Rao and I can be a lot scarier than Batman if I want to be,” Kara chuckled and sat Indian style in the air in front of the terrified villain. Alex was having a hard time even looking at her sister, while Batgirl was fascinated by the display.

“You know this isn’t who she really is,” she whispered into Alex’s ear again, their professional rivalry was one thing, but she hated to see her future sister-in-law so distressed. 

“Now Jonathan, tell me everything,” the terrifying blonde demanded of him and she knew what Kara was doing. The oh-so-clever blonde was modulating her voice to emit a frequency that disrupted Scarecrow’s thought patterns while using her glowing red eyes and nonchalant floating for some good old-fashioned intimidation. The guttural voice, however, was straight-up scary. 

“They came to me in Arkham! Said they could get me out and that I could make this whole city cower in fear! Please stop!” he begged and tried to curl himself up into a ball.

“What is the darkness, Jonathan?” Kara demanded and floated closer to him when he tried to pull away and Einstein's whiskers the Kryptonian could be terrifying when she wanted to be. 

“They said it was coming and showed me, their leader showed me its seeds and it was beautiful and terrifying, it comes to put out the stars and to kill her!” he howled pointing at her through the two-way mirror and pointed straight at her. 

“It comes for the child of the green light!” he shrieked and Kara letting her eyes revert to normal knelt down in front of him as he curled up on the chair.

“Where are they Jonathan?” she asked her voice returning to its sweet tones reaching out to touch her hand to the man’s shaking arm.

“A plane, flying south, jungles, the smell of papayas, then endless ice and now they’ll come for me,” the shaken man babbled before closing his eyes and Kara stood up looking sad as Alex came rushing into the room.

“Kara what the hell?” the woman demanded and was clearly upset at the student her sister had pulled as she checked the villain’s pulse.

“He wasn’t going to talk unless we pushed him. I read his file, he’s addicted to fear both causing it and having it inflicted on him, so I gave him some,” Kara explained herself calmly. 

“Kara… just… fuck!” Alex shouted while pacing around the integration room running her fingers through her hair. 

“What exactly is going on here?” Batgirl asked clearly confused at Alex’s outburst, but also undoubtedly drawing conclusions about their relationship.

“I wasn’t going to wait around Alex, they’re coming after Lena,” Kara was shouting at her sister and all three of them were talking over each other now. 

“That doesn’t mean you do something like… that!” Alex shouted back at her sister and Batgirl was looking between the two and visibly putting two and two together.

“I’m confused, do you two…” Batgirl trailed off looking between the two sisters and they were nose to nose now debating each other’s methods.

“Everyone stop talking!” she shouted and felt her green fires flare around her as the three women all went silent. 

“But…” both Kara and Alex both spoke up at once and she held up her finger shushing them with a glare. 

“This isn’t the time or the place for this conversation,” she spoke quietly controlling her breathing, but before she could go on the entire building shook and explosions echoed outside.

“Report!” Alex shouted into her communicator and Kara started scanning through the walls with her vision powers. 

“They’ve breached the back entrance, they’re coming for Crane,” Kara reported and got ready to blast off.

“No, it’s a distraction if they wanted him, they’d just teleport in,” she said putting a hand on Kara’s arm to stop her. “They’re trying to draw us out to fight,” she went one and looked at Alex who was barking orders while Batgirl eyed the ventilation shaft above them.

“Batgirl, where is your cave?” she asked looking at the girl who wordlessly pulled what looked like a cellphone out of her utility belt holding up a screen with the coordinates.

“You two, stay put,” she ordered Kara and Alex and scanned Batgirl’s device for the coordinates the cave.

Generating a glowing green earpiece, one of the first things she’d made when she’d gotten the ring she contacted Winn while looking between the three women, Batgirl quietly observing and awaiting orders, Kara pouting at being held back and Alex looking ready to punch someone, probably her.

“Winn you’re safe, right? Good, I’m uploading some information to your computer don’t panic,” she spoke into her ring and in front of her small green visualizations of files being flown by tiny Supergirl’s between two tiny green computer terminals appeared. 

“Got it GL, you might want to get out Scarecrow and Supergirl out of there, the jolly green giant is slowing them down, but they've brought some new toys and more of that gas,” Winn urgently spoke in her emerald earpiece and Kara clearly overhearing it frowned. 

“Thanks for the heads up, do me a solid and get a hold of James and direct him to our new friend’s place, he’ll know what that means,” she laughed making a mental note to spend more time with the man.

“Roger that GL, we’ll barricade the main hall and I’m offloading data offsite so talk later,” Winn replied in her ear. 

“Be safe,” she said as the link cut off. Taking a deep breath, holding her hands out in front of her, she focused her mind on the coordinates she’d gotten from Batgirl’s device and slowly she started to fold spacetime in on itself. A tiny green portal started to swirl between her hands, growing taller and wider as she poured her willpower into it. 

“Spacetime folding is unadvisable Green Lantern 2814,” the ring droned as she manipulated the fabric of reality again for the first time since her trip to and from Oa.

“Shut-up Ringy…” she growled through gritted teeth widening the emerald portal until it was large enough for a person to step through. 

“Supergirl, grab Dr. Crane, Batgirl this portal will take you to your cave, go on ahead and make preparations for keeping him contained,” she said and the cowled girl nodded diving through the portal after a moment's pause. The sound of Kara breaking the chains around the villain’s ankles followed.

“You’ll join us after you clean up here right?” Kara asked with a small worried smile walking up to her with the unconscious villain over her shoulder, not even arguing about being sent away.

Before she could speak Kara then glanced at her sister wavering slightly and looking like she was ready to start that argument, only to be waved towards the glowing emerald portal by Alex who was in full-on super-agent mode. 

“Kara, go! I’ll be fine,” Alex said with a smile. “And I’m not mad you, just warn a sister next time alright?” she joked, and Kara smiled, glancing back at her as sickly colored green gas started seeping in under the door.

“I’ll keep her safe, now go!” she promised the blonde and dove in giving her a kiss on the cheek before Kara gave a firm nod and flew through the portal with her passenger and she snapped it closed before wiping the blood from her upper lip.

“Alex…” she started turning to face the agent who had her weapons drawn and her game face on. 

“Smart sending her away like that since we still don’t know how effective their kryptonite fear gas is,” the agent said pulling a mask over her nose and mouth and getting ready to burst into action to defend her coworkers.

“Alex… you don’t have to… oh Tesla’s Coils just take these,” she started suggesting that the agent should stay put, but instead generated a pair of green raypunk guns, very Buck Rogers, for her future sister-in-law. These were unlike what she’d made before because tapping into the Starheart she’d made them a bit more potent and they wouldn’t fade away if anything happened to, even if it caused her a massive headache and a nosebleed to do so.

“Thanks, but your nose is bleeding,” Alex observed sounding concerned while accepting the weapons, but she shrugged before generating an exoskeleton of green light around herself and materializing a shimmering emerald blade down from her right wrist. It was time to get medieval.

“I’ll be fine, I’ll make us a door. You ready to give them hell sis?” she asked generating a glowing green blaster cannon around her left hand and pointing it to the two-way mirror. The look Alex gave her was priceless as another explosion shook the building and they could hear a commotion outside the room now.

“On three... sis,” Alex said and grinned at her as she counted down and on three, she blasted a massive hole clean through the two-way mirror, the wall and into the hallways outside sending power-armored Institution troopers flying.

“Now let’s give them a Luthor-Danvers beat down!” she laughed as they both dove through the hole morphing the cannon around her fist into a mechanical glove and punching the first goon that got in her way clean through a wall.

“Careful of DEO property!” Alex shouted at her blasting anything in sight with well-aimed bolts of green plasma from her new toys. “Oh, I like this” she laughed and twirled the ray-guns in between shots. “Oh, I like this a lot!” she proclaimed and dropped two oncoming armored troopers as sickly colored green gas swirled around their feet.

There was a lot of them, the ring reporting that there were at least fifty scattered throughout the DEO. The staff had barricaded themselves in the main hall on J’onn’s orders and the Martian had fallen back to protect them. 

“Let’s take back your house,” she shouted at Alex and rushed forward with a trail of green light behind her and slashed the gun of one of their attackers in half before delivering a green power-gauntleted right hook to his face. 

“Right behind you,” Alex shouted back covering her and their back as they fought towards the back entrance were the fighting was the heaviest.

“GL come in,” Winn crackled in her ear with sounds of fighting behind him as they reached a group of DEO agents pinned down in a hallway. Flying forward she spread out a green shield to cover the agents and answered Winn.

“Report!” she shouted a bit too loud she knew as the bullets bounced off her shield and she blasted back the troopers with her fist cannon. The armor they wore was sophisticated made of polished silver metal with a blue visor and she could detect some of the stolen tech from her reactor lab in it. 

“We could use some help in the main hall, J’onn is down and something weird is happening!” Winn answered and she could hear that he was trying to hold back his panic before the link became nothing but static.

“Alex, I need to break some more stuff,” she called out to the agent who was helping the DEO agent’s they’d just saved. “Winn and the people in the main hall are in trouble!” she shouted over the din of gunfire.

“I’ll stabilize things here, you go straight up,” Alex said, pointing to the ceiling and with a nod, she blasted upwards through the concrete. “Try not to hit anything load-bearing!” she heard Alex call after her. 

Blasting through several levels of reinforced concrete with dust and debris sizzling against her shields she blasted her way up into the main hall and landed crouched down on one knee before getting to her feet. Hail of bullets against the back of green aura greeted her as the Institution troops turned their attention to her. 

“Green Lantern look out!” she heard Winn calling out, she’d popped up right between the barricaded DEO agents and their attackers, but as she turned something smacked her square across the chest and send her flying back until coming to a stop against a workstation. It hadn’t been troops firing on her, it had been a lone trooper and her back stung like hell. 

“What the…” she groaned trying to get her breath back and she looked down seeing that the green hard light exoskeleton she’d generated across the chest was now cracked. Looking up she could see a mechanical monstrosity advancing on her. It was a human or had been, wearing one of those power-armors they troopers assaulting the lower levels had been wearing, but it oozed with something akin to black tar, darkness made manifest, and it was coming out of every seam of the armor and wriggling like black veins over the silver metal. 

“Child of the green light,” the thing gurgled at her and lashed out with two black tendrils at such great speed that she barely ducked them as they embedded themselves in the wall behind her. Rolling to her feet and forming the blade again out of green light she slashed them in half, but it took all her strength to do so.

“What are you?” she demanded, breathing heavily as she turned to face the thing as the tendrils receded back into its arms. Scanning it with her ring revealed, nothing, it was almost like there was a hole in reality where the thing stood. 

“The darkness comes for you,” the thing gurgled, and she could see what had been a human face underneath the visor of the suit. Pointing its hand at her a black oozing facsimile of a blaster cannon appeared.

“Yeah, yeah, heard it before,” she glanced at Winn who was supporting J’onn who was back in his human form while herding DEO staff out behind her. Crossing her arms in front of herself, she threw up an emerald shield when the thing blasted her with a stream of black plasma, and it was relentless. But knowing she couldn’t cut loose until everyone was out, she held on. 

“Why do you resist child of the green light?” the thing gurgled as she pushed back and started walking towards it, pushing its beam back as it blasted against her shield. Why was this so hard? she wondered and It was taking all of her willpower to simply maintain her shield. The black plasma crackled against her shield and she wanted to scream because it hurt but she wouldn’t give it the satisfaction.

“Oh, it’s kind of my thing,” she grunted jokingly, glancing to see Winn give her the thumbs up she dissolved the shield and ducked under the beam. The black stream of plasma hit the wall behind her, and the sluggish thing grunted when she rolled to her feet, rematerialized her wrist blade and sliced off the black blaster from its hand.

“Fuck!” she cursed when the thing instead of howling in pain, simply backhanded her across the face, busting open her lip through the ring's protective green aura and sending her staggering backward. 

“You are tenacious, child of the green light,” the thing gurgled, and the ruined black blaster cannon formed into a nasty looking blade which it swung for her.

“Again, it’s kind of my thing,” she grunted and blocked it with her own emerald blade, but her arm was shaking from the strain and green sparks flew everywhere. 

“You will submit or die,” the thing growled swinging mindlessly at her raised blade and again green sparks flew. This wasn’t going to work for long and she knew that there was no way she could go toe to toe with this thing. 

“What are you?” she demanded again and with a grunt pushed the thing away to create some space between them. Up close and personal was more of Kara’s thing after all. 

“We’ve always been, but your arrogant floundering with the green light awakened us!” the thing roared at her as it lunged for her swinging wildly at her head, shattering the emerald blade she had raised in her defense and sending her down to one knee. 

“This is going to suck,” she said to herself and allowing the Starheart’s fire to flow through her again she caught the black blade coming down on her head in one flaming fist. Straining to rise to her feet, she felt the emerald fire dancing across her skin, and she stared the thing down. 

“Burn in my fire!” she declared and let the green flame spread down the blade and across the things black oozing armor. Controlling the Starheart was like trying to keep Kara way from a buffet, nearly impossible and you could only let it happen. 

“No!” the thing roared and pushed back against her flames with its black oozing tar, and the emerald flames sizzled and flickered, and she gritted her teeth and poured on more power. The Starheart’s glow erupting out of her chest and the star-shaped mark glowed on the front of her uniform. 

Black oozing darkness fought against emerald flames as she closed her fist tighter around the black blade making her palm bleed and the green fires flared into brilliant life around them both. With the fire of the Starheart burning away her mask to reveal her flaming eyes and she took a page out of Kara’s book and blasted the thing in the face with her own version of green heat vision.

“This is my planet, my sector, and you’re not welcome here!” she growled at it and the black oozing substance started bubbling away from the human trooper trapped underneath it.

“We are already… here!” the thing howled in defiance one last time, but she twisted the blade in her fist and snapped it as she exploded with green fire. Waves of emerald flames bathing the main hall of the DEO and with a low howl the manifested darkness burned away leaving only a shaken looking pale man in a charred power-armor. The black blade in her fist disintegrated with blooding running down her arm and she fell to one knee breathing heavily. Then a familiar gust of wind blew past her with strong arms picking her up and she was flying under blue skies.


	9. Superfriends’ Spelunking Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Identities get revealed and new relationships are forged as Batgirl get smothered with friendship
> 
> Lena learns that fighting someone up-close and personal can be a bitch
> 
> Kara gives a speech and takes a step towards uniting her two halves
> 
> Batgirl takes steps to make her cave less lonely

Lena was in a tiny bit of trouble with Kara and she knew it. Sitting on the medical cot in Batgirl’s cave somewhere under National City’s waterfront as her fiancée tended to her wounds. It was clear that the blonde hero was a mixture of concern and anger while she tried not to show too many outward signs of pain. After she defeated whatever that Lovecraftian horror thing was at the DEO, Supergirl had arrived to whisk her away. At first, Kara had insisted on going straight to their apartment or a hospital, but she’d insisted they needed to regroup and figure out what was going on, so Batgirl’s cave is where they ended up.

“Rao! Your back,” Kara gasped peeling off the top of her Green Lantern uniform, while outside in the main hall of the cave Batgirl and James were waiting for them. 

“Would it help if I said that it looks worse than it feels,” she lamely tried to calm her fiancée down, but in truth, it stung like hell. Trying to turn her head to look she could see that her shoulder was a mass of bruises and assumed the rest of her back looked much the same. That thing hadn’t been holding back and that’s why she’d resorted to burning it with the Starheart. 

“No, it doesn’t help like at all, and I thought the ring was supposed to protect you,” Kara demanded quietly while cleaning up some of the blood that had trickled out of where the bullets had broken her skin. Looking down she could see that her ribs were bruised though not as bad as her back felt.

“It does, but this thing was something new, used some sort of black plasma,” she grunted trying to analyze what exactly she’d fought while the blonde used medical iodine to clean up the worst of the cuts on her back. Looking down at her bandaged right hand that had been cut open when she caught the blade aimed for her head, she frowned. That thing had been something new indeed, using oozing black plasma it had been able to cut through a lot of her defenses. 

“You keep calling it a thing, but it was obviously a person underneath all that,” Kara reminded her and started wrapping white compression tape tightly around her to bind her bruised ribs. Try as she might she couldn’t fight back the slight hiss of pain that it caused her, and Kara gave her shoulder a sympathetic kiss. 

“And I’m sure that Alex is examining the poor bastard right now and she’ll have answers for us soon,” she grunted when Kara tightened the bindings around her ribs, and she could feel the look the woman was giving her. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to be insensitive, but I’m sure the DEO will do everything they can for him,” she said, with Kara giving a satisfied grunt in response, cutting the compression tape and finishing her bindings up. Kara's large heart even had room for the person that had tried to kill her, maybe one day she’d be able to see things like the blonde hero did, she wished for it at least.

“I know you didn’t mean to be cruel, and it said that they were already here. Lena, if one of them can do this to you...” the blonde hero muttered worriedly and started taping gauze to her back in the spots where she’d bled. It was clear as day, that being left out of the fight and then arriving only to find her all beaten up was affecting Kara. Obvious much Luthor? The girl is going to marry you so of course she cares, she chastised herself.

“Hey, look at me Kara,” she said once Kara was done patching her up and turned around on the cot to face the blonde who was biting her lower lip with worry.

“I know you hate seeing me hurt, but we protect people remember, that means we can and will get hurt,” she went saying on taking Kara’s hand in her bandaged one. 

“But it's you getting hurt all the time it feels like and I also hate being on the side-lines,” the blonde mumbled unhappily. “And seeing you bleeding and bruised I…” the blonde hero went on with anger rising in her voice.

“Beloved, I survived, and these wounds will heal,” she said in Kryptonian to calm the blonde beauty and raised her hand to Kara’s cheek. “I’m stronger than I look too,” she chuckled borrowing a phrase of Kara’s to put her wife-to-be's mind more at ease.

“I know beloved, but I am going to make them regret marring your perfection,” Kara replied in melodic Kryptonian while running a thumb over the cut on her lip. The feeling invoked by Kara Zor-El promising to avange her felt amazing in a primal kind of way, she had to admit.

“Oh, I know you will, and as much I would love to sit here listening to you describe how you’ll do it in great detail, our friends are waiting outside,” she said with a smile and leaned her cheek into the palm of Kara’s warm hand.

“And you’re like very topless,” Kara observed with a small smile before taking off her cape and putting it around her gently before helping her down from the cot.

Pulling Kara’s red cape around her tighter she let the blonde hero support her as they walked into the main area of Batgirl’s cave. Being aware of Kara’s claustrophobia she glanced at her but saw no outward signs that she was feeling uncomfortable in the admittedly cramped cave. 

In the main hall or more accurately the main chamber of the cave, James was leaning against a giant holographic map of National City in his Guardian armor but with his helmet off and resting inside the holographic map. The photographer turned CEO turned vigilante was talking quietly to Batgirl who was as close to him as could be considered polite and she could tell that the girl was clearly happy that the man was back in her cave. 

“Look who is back on her feet, and rocking the Lois Lane rescue look,” James greeted them with a smile and Batgirl smiled at them from behind him. 

“Is Scarecrow secured?” she asked and the cowled girl nodded before jerking her head towards one of the alcoves that extended out of the cave’s main chamber.

“Good, will Winn be joining us?” she asked next leaning against Kara a bit more heavily than she wanted to. Feeling Kara’s strength was something she needed right now because despite her brave face, the fight had taken a lot out of her.

“Winn will be joining us over holo-link, right about now,” James answered as the map of national city morphed into a giant holographic image of Winn’s head.

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” Winn joked, and she couldn’t help but giggle along with Kara at the Wizard of Oz reference. Grunting slightly and she felt Kara’s concern filled eyes on her in an instant. Giggling wasn’t a good idea right now because by Edison’s idea thieving ways giggling hurt a lot. 

“Hi everyone, Lena, Supergirl and oh is that Batgirl,” the giant head of Winn greeted them and looked around the cave. The computer wizard was somehow seeing and hearing them, and she made a mental note of trying to head-hunt him someday soon.

“The strong silent type, gotcha,” he said upon getting no reply from Batgirl and a quick hand motion from James telling him to drop it.

“Winn have you had time to crunch any of the data I sent you,” she asked the giant head of Winn as Kara curiously poked her finger into the holographic representation of their friend’s head.

“Just got our systems up and running and working on it so it will take some time, but I can tell you that that the armor those guys wore were definitely stolen tech from your lab and the gas they used... well there is no way to sugarcoat it. It could have killed Supergirl,” the computer wizard reported with a frown on his holographic face and she drew in a sharp breath causing Kara to put an arm around her shoulders.

“So it was a good thing you sent Supergirl away,” he added and the thought that somebody was out to kill her fiancée made her hands flare-up with green flames making everyone in the cave jump back. 

“Oh, stop it!” she chastised the Starheart and the flames died down as Batgirl looked between her and Kara with a puzzled look on her masked face. That puzzled look quickly gave way to one of dawning realization, however. 

They really did suck at keeping secret identities and she groaned inwardly. Being infused the Starheart wasn’t helping matters either and she could see the wheels in Batgirl’s head turning, putting the pieces together from their interactions at the DEO and now her reaction at Winn’s revelation about the gas. 

It was at that point Kara stepped in front of her and pulled herself up to her full height. Maybe it was the enclosed space or the revelation that somebody was yet again trying to kill them, but at that moment Kara chose to put into practice what she’d been talking about for a while. 

“I’m not doing this anymore,” the blonde hero declared, before glancing back at her and she gave her fiancée a nod of confirmation. Knowing what Kara was doing did make her heart skip a beat, but she understood why the blonde hero was doing it.

Unzipping the front of her suit Kara pulled out the chain which the engagement ring hung from and pulling it off the chain she slipped it on her finger. A pair of glasses emerged next from a compartment on her belt and she pushed them up her nose. Quickly rearranging her hair completed the transformation and there stood Kara Danvers, all be it dressed in Supergirl’s suit. 

“Hi again, I’m Kara Danvers, this is my fiancée Lena Luthor. Now please stop looking at me like that Batgirl,” the blonde declared politely and then she turned serious. It was an almost perfect merger of Kara Danvers and Kara Zor-El. Sweet politeness mixed with steely resolve that demanded respect. 

“Now I could easily figure out who you are, but I won’t. Because I respect your secrets and the rules you operate under,” Kara told the cowled hero and she stepped up beside the blonde and squeezed her hand as her heart did a little flutter again.

“But I’m asking you to please tell us because somebody is coming after us and this city. We know it’s not just the Institution, something is coming for Lena from beyond the stars and our only hope to defeat it, is if we stand together and trust each other,” Kara spoke with conviction and passion while turning the full force of her personality on Batgirl who visibly flinched.

“Sorry,” the cowled hero said putting her arms behind her back and rocking on her heels, deflating under Kara’s gaze and from being busted trying to figure out her secret identity.

“Never say you’re sorry Batgirl,” Kara said and stepped up to the cowled girl, putting both hands on her shoulders and looking her square in the eyes. Lena wondered for roughly the six millionth time how she’d gotten this lucky to have Kara Danvers stumble into her life. 

“Like Kara said, we’re asking you to trust us, secrets have a nasty tendency to fester, and get in the way,” she said walking up beside Kara and smiling at the cowled girl. 

“Plus, we do things differently here in National City,” she went on putting her bandaged hand on top of Kara’s on the girl’s shoulder.

“Yeah, we’re all friends here Batgirl, a team,” James said joining them smiling at Batgirl along with them and that made the cowled girl perk up. 

“Stronger together,” Winn’s holographic head declared as Batgirl looked around at them with wide eyes behind her mask. There it was a slight shift in the girl’s shoulders, and she knew who Batgirl was underneath that cowl now.

“If it helps, I already know who you are,” she said with a small smile at the wide-eyed girl. It hadn’t been that hard once she started thinking about it and adding up all the factors. Height, movements, and voice it all added up. After all, what good was being a super genius if you didn’t use your brain, right?

“And what Batman doesn’t know can’t hurt him right?” James added with a wink and she was sure Batgirl was blushing under her mask. In response she swept the cave with a beam of green light in essence ensuring their privacy.

“You guys are weird,” Batgirl chuckled started pulling her cowl up slowly. “But, new city, new rules,” she then said, and the cowl and mask came off revealing the shy smiling face of Cassandra Cain. "Hi again, I'm Cassandra Cain," she introduced herself mimicking Kara's reveal.

“We get that a lot and nice to meet you Cassandra,” Kara laughed and hugged the unmasked hero. Potential situation defused and no more secrets in the air, they moved on without masks. 

“How did you know?” Cassandra asked her over Kara’s shoulder as the blonde hero was welcoming her new assistant to the fold via the medium of bone-crushing hugs.

“She’s a super genius,” Kara answered for her and let the young woman go as she blushed at the praise from her fiancée.

“What my fiancée said,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders and took her turn hugging the girl which earned her a raised eyebrow or two, Lena Luthor didn't do hugs after all.

“Does this mean I’m fired? Because I like working for you,” Cassandra admitted shyly and wiggled a bit so she would let her go. Clearly the girl could only handle so much friendship and acceptance at once. 

“No, you’re a good assistant Cassandra and this makes things a bit easier if anything,” she assured the girl who gave a firm nod and then smiled once she let her go. 

“Now that we all know each other, how about we get back to business?” she asked looking at Winn’s giant head and nodding for him to give them what information he had.

“Ah right, I’ve been tracing the Institution’s teleportation signals and they’re bouncing off cloaked satellites in high-Earth orbit, thanks for letting me use your system, by the way, Lena,” the computer wizard reported.

“Now, they’ve been hitting up labs all over the world, so the attack on yours wasn't an isolated incident. Wherever there is alien tech being studied, they’ve shown up to snatch it,” he went on bringing up a map of the globe with the labs marked with blinking circles. 

“But what are they? Cadmus off-shoot, something new, government?” Kara asked floating up from the cave floor sans her cape and flying around the holographic Earth as Cassandra watched wide-eyed at her first close-up sight of Supergirl in flight. 

“They're not a government agency, rogue or otherwise, Alex and J’onn have been shaking people by the neck up and down the chain since the attack, Alex says hi by the way,” Winn said shaking his now smaller holographic head which followed Kara around the map. 

“At the docks, they didn’t like Scarecrow, treated him like an outsider and a freak” Cassandra added dropping her cowl down on the map console. “So could they be supremacists maybe? Earth-firsters? A cult?” the unmasked girl suggested also circling the map while James watched with his arms crossed over his chest.

While the girls and Winn were talking Lena had sat down in the throne-like chair with a bat-shaped back with Kara’s red cape around her like a makeshift dress. Leaning back and tapping her fingers together under her nose she ran it all through her mind. 

“What you are thinking Lena?” James asked having noticed her having gone quiet had wandered over to her. 

“Connections, because nothing happens in a vacuum. The Starheart started flaring up at the same time as the Institution shows up is one, Scarecrow telling us that the darkness was coming for me and that their leader had shown it to him and then that black ooze controlling the trooper at the DEO,” she answered letting small green holograms of each of the players in their investigation float in front of her. 

“I hate to sound egomaniacal, but it all connects back to the Starheart and by proxy me,” she said and Kara still floating by the map gave her a loving look to put her mind at ease that this wasn’t a case of Luthor egomania.

“I think you’re right and it goes back even further. At the lab attack they didn’t like you and what is this Starheart?” Cassandra asked turning around with a raised eyebrow at seeing her in the chair.

“A lot of people don’t like me Cassandra, but the timing is what I’m interested in and since we’re all trusting each other, I guess it’s my turn to show and tell,” she chuckled waving away her green light holograms and pulled open Kara’s cape from the middle of her chest with James looking away so fast that he probably gave himself whiplash and Winn’s holographic head did a one-hundred and eighty degrees quick spin, you didn’t stare at Supergirl’s girl after all.

“Come on, don’t be shy boys,” she laughed and let the star-shaped mark on her chest pulse. “This is the Starheart,” she explained to them and the mark pulsed excitedly. Maybe the thing was more aware than she’d thought or maybe it was her willpower giving it personality. Metaphysical stuff hurt when you thought about it too hard in any case. 

“Pretty,” Cassandra observed looking at it with a neutral expression. “Magic or science?” the girl asked bending down to get a closer look and it was funny to see Kara clenching her jaw at how close the brown eyed girl was to her breasts.

“A bit of both,” she explained as James and Winn’s giant head turned around. “I already told some of you that it warned me that something was coming for Earth, something dark, which is in our experience is never good and now we have several sources and bruises confirming it,” she said with a wince as she moved a bit too fast pulling at the bandages on her back. 

“And it started flaring-up around the same time as the attacks by Scarecrow started, we think it was trying to warn us,” Kara explained flying back down to the ground as she covered up her chest again with the red cape.

“Despite it all being connected our first objective should still be finding the Institution, if they have more of those troopers infected with that black ooze, we need to stop them. Winn any ideas?” she asked looking up at the giant floating head.

“Well, what Scarecrow told us incoherent as it was, points us in the right direction when combined with the teleportation signals,” Winn said and a large circle appeared on the holographic globe covering parts of South America, Africa and the Antarctic

“That’s a lot of the globe to cover, can you narrow it down,” she asked with a frown leaning forward in the chair and gave a quick thought to installing a throne in her office.

“Best I can do for now until we get everything back online, sorry,” Winn apologize as Kara looked at the map no doubt thinking how fast she could cover roughly a fifth of the globe. What was more worrying that it all made sense now, the attacks on her lab and others like it, Scarecrow’s ravings and the Starheart’s warning. 

“They’re helping it,” she said quietly, and the cave fell silent at her declaration. “Denying humanity tech and defenses, trying to take Kara and me out, it all makes sense,” she went on and the silence was oppressive, and she hated being right. Thankfully Kara broke out her best smile and dispelled the dark clouds. 

“Hey, we can figure this out guys,” the blonde hero declared with a smile and her voice cheerful floating back down to the ground. 

“Winn you keep working on narrowing that area down,” the ever-cheerful and hopeful woman went on pointing at the globe. 

“James, you and Batgirl, sorry Cassandra look into the raids on those other labs that got hit, I’m sure a Pulitzer winning photojournalist and one of the world's greatest detectives can find some answers, right?” Kara asked the pair and she leaned back in the chair watching her fiancée work her magic.

Cassandra and James shared a look, and then both gave a nod, with the girl looking very pleased about being paired up with, in her words the cute vigilante CEO and as Kara turned towards her, she smiled approvingly at the blonde.

“Me and Lena will put our heads together and see if that book Ganthet brought us has any information. Oh, he’s Lena’s blue space-grandpa it’s a long story and if you guys need anything call us, understood? Kara finished doling out assignments almost like she was a teacher and they were a group of students. The glasses helped with that look

“Everybody knows what to do?” the blonde hero asked with a bright smile, putting her hands on her hips in her classic power-pose and looking at each of them who in turn just nodded at the blonde.

“Teamwork is fun, now who wants pizza?” Cassandra suggested making Kara’s stomach grumble which caused a round of laughter to echo in the cave. Despite the impending darkness and troubles ahead, Kara had a way to make everyone see the light.

* * *

Back at their apartment they changed into t-shirts before crawling into bed. The trip over had been interesting, to say the least since Kara had insisted on carrying her wrapped up in the cape, but the blonde had been flying a bit unsteadily having gotten into a pizza-eating contest with Batgirl who seemed to possess a bottomless stomach that matched the Kryptonians. Now sitting comfortably in their bed, they were both quietly working on their own things when the blonde spoke up.

“I like Cassandra,” Kara declared without looking from her notepad which she was scribbling in at superspeed using Kryptonian script with her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. The blonde had slipped into a pair of green underwear and a black baggy t-shirt with her mass of blonde locks hair up in a bun and those sapphire blue eyes were darting over the notes. She'd never get tired off peeking at Kara Danvers she knew that for sure. 

“I think you and James both like her,” she laughed and put her laptop down having finished catching up with her day job. That was new, when did CEO of L-Corp become her day job in her mind. It used to be her entire life, now it was simply one part of it. 

“Oh, I think James likes her a lot more than I do, plus she gets points for not checking you out when you flashed everyone,” Kara laughed and kept scribbling while talking.

“I didn’t flash everyone!” she protested and glanced down at her breasts safely hidden behind a L-Corp t-shirt, in fact the only thing she’d slipped on after peeling off her Green Lantern uniform. “At best I showed a bit of cleavage,” she defended herself and Kara gave a small laugh. 

“Well it was smart of you to suggest that he stay behind and help her clean up,” the blonde laughed and winked at her and something about Kara’s winks always made her laugh with just how exaggerated they were. 

“Now that she’s free to do what she wants without Batman snooping on her business it seemed to be the best course of action,” she laughed as Kara’s smiling face turned serious. 

“You think I did the right thing, getting her to unmask?” the blonde asked quietly, putting her pencil down and letting a bit of self-doubt show. “I get so tired of hiding behind masks and altar-egos you know,” she added.

“I think you did the right thing, but a bit more warning beforehand would have been nice. Can you please give a girl a bit more warning the next time you decide to unmask in front of people? Because that unmasking made my heart skip a beat,” she said, reaching out to take Kara’s hand.

“Sorry, I’ll warn you next time and you were right secrets only get in the way,” the blonde apologized with a little blush. “You really think the Institution is in league with whatever is coming?” she then asked squeezing her hand.

“It makes the most sense based on what we’ve observed, and they’re displaying all the hallmarks of people who believe they’ve been chosen,” she sighed and interlaced her fingers with Kara’s.

“We’ll still beat them,” the blonde declared firmly before getting another idea and pulling her hand away to do a few more quick scribbles in her notepad before smiling. 

“Look I’ve been working on a few things that can help,” she said excitedly, turning the notepad towards her to show off her work and she had to squint to make out some of the more complex Kryptonian script as Kara excitedly offer her the pad. 

Accepting the notepad, she found that it was filled with scribbles and sketches for weapons and enhancements for both James and Cassandra’s suits. Ideas for light-based weapons, new materials, light-weight exoskeletons, and even anti-gravity devices, there were a lot of ideas on those pages. 

“You think they’ll agree to this?” Kara asked after giving her a few moments to go over the notes and the blonde looked a bit unsure of herself. Having been encouraging Kara to use her mind more it made her proud seeing all those ideas and truth be told it made her melt a little inside.

“It will give them an advantage, James will be all for it and Winn too, but Cassandra strikes me as proud person so you might have to talk fast to convince her,” she said and closed the notepad before handing it back to Kara who was bouncing a bit at the thought of being able to help her friends. 

“I can talk fast! But I wish we knew more about what this darkness is, you described as some sort of black oozing plasma, but plasma doesn’t usually ooze yet it behaved much like your hard-light constructs do,” Kara babble-mused going over her notes again and at super-speed scribbling a few more things on the margins of the pages.

“We need to go through the Book of Oa that Ganthet brought us in the morning, it must have some information on it,” she said stretching leisurely and grunting a bit when she felt the bandages on her back pulling at her skin. The ring was doing its best to speed up her recovery, but something about that black oozing plasma was making it take longer than usual. 

“Remember Ganthet told you that you need a clear and focused mind when you read it,” Kara reminded her and then glanced in the direction of their lab. 

“Which is why I’ve been keeping it safe in the lab until I can prepare myself,” she said, and the blue Guardian’s warning had indeed been quite firm on that front. No random paging through the Book of Oa or it might turn your brain to mush. 

“You think it’s safe in there?” the blonde asked tapping her pencil on a sketch of Batgirl she’d made in the last few seconds. It was a very Kryptonian version of the girl’s suit with augments added on and notes on them all around it. 

“Oh, I’d say it’s in the safest place on the planet. It’s the next room over from where Supergirl and Green Lantern sleep together,” she teased back and leaned in to examine the sketch but also to plant a quick kiss on the blonde’s cheek. 

“Good point! I knew saying yes to your marriage proposal was a smart move,” Kara teased back and then gently cupped her cheeks with both hands before placing a series of quick kisses on her lips. 

“In the future warn me before flashing that much skin in public, alright?” the blonde asked in between kisses being very gentle with her in light of her banged-up state. 

“I’ll try my best Mentor Zor-El,” she said climbing on top of Kara as gracefully as her sore ribs and bruised back would allow. “You wouldn’t want your best student misbehaving in public, now would you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and Kara gave a little growl in response.

“You sure you’re well enough for this?” Kara asked putting warm hands on her hips when she started gently rocking back and forth against the blonde.

“I fought something that looked like it stepped out of some Lovecraftian horror story, trust me I am well enough ejd I need this,” she moaned as the pain in her back and ribs faded as her arousal took over.

“You were very heroic,” the blonde giggled and then moaned in response when she shifted around and straddled Kara’s thigh before driving a knee between her legs.

“I have my moments,” she groaned pressing herself down against Kara’s warm skin and pulled the t-shirt up over her head. The second she was topless she was instantly rewarded by Kara’s lustful sapphire blue eyes going wide at the sight of her breasts.

“I love your breasts….” the now very excited blonde trailed off shifting those warm and strong hands from her hips to her exposed breasts while being mindful of her wrapped up ribs. With the blonde distracted by boobies, she reached down and pulled the reporter’s green sensible underwear to one side to give herself more access and making this more enjoyable for them both. 

“All yours…” she moaned when the blonde started playing with her nipples and she started grinding herself hard against the Girl of Steel. Letting out all the tension that last few days had built up inside her and wearing nothing but a t-shirt to bed had proven a good idea.

“Lena...” her blonde beauty whimpered breathlessly as she sat up wrapping pink lips around a stiff nipple and then sucking on it greedily. The bed creaked slightly at their movements and she could feel the heat radiating from Kara’s body.

“Kara…” she moaned in return pulling the blonde’s head closer to her chest and she could feel the woman’s heat and wetness against her knee. Feeling herself heading for a quick and intense climax, but she wanted to prolong it knowing Kara often preferred more drawn out lovemaking, so she slowed down.

“Go on… don’t slow down on my account,” Kara whispered, urging her on when she tried to slow things down, Tesla's Coils she loved this woman stupid much. The stunning woman, her goddess, moved her soft lips between her breasts and covered them in a glistening layer of saliva as she went. All the while flexing the muscles in her thighs to help her along and gently pulling at each nipple with her teeth. It was pure sensory overload and she felt her brain short-circuiting as it often did in the presence of Kara Danvers. 

“Holy Hadron Collider!” she whimpered pushing herself towards the edge against Kara’s steel-like muscles and it made the blonde Kryptonian chuckle around her breast. Hands that could crush coal into diamonds grabed onto her behind and with Karw guiding in her movements she let her blood beauty take control of her. 

“Cum for me Lena,” the blonde moaned her order as she pressed her knee into the heat of the woman’s sex. Moving together with Kara’s warm hands on her butt and those wonderful sofy lips attached to her breasts she held onto the blonde’s head for dear life. Something about hearing the woman she once viewed as timid and shy telling her to orgasm was too much. 

With them both panting loudly she felt herself being made to grind harder against Kara and those inhumanly strong hands kneaded the flesh of her behind while her goddess feasted on her breasts. Pulling the blonde’s long hair out of its bun she ran her fingers through golden locks, and she could feel her beautiful fiancée tensing up underneath her. 

“Rao!” they both called out as she finally obeyed Kara’s request and pulled the amazing woman in as close as she could while feeling warm fingers digging into the flesh of her butt. Like that they rode out their mutual orgasms before collapsing back down on the bed with her head resting on Kara’s shoulder as they breathed heavily in perfect sync each other. 

In the lab the Book of Oa was doing some very odd things, unknown to the two of them as they rolled around in bed. The green tome was floating above the stand where they’d left it with its letters glowing a bright green now. Then the pages started turning on their own and ending on a page with a drawing of the crest of House El overlaid on the Green Lantern symbol.

* * *

Back in the cave James was helping Batgirl, no Cassandra Cain clean up the carnage following her pizza-eating contest with Kara. Winn had finally taken his holographic leave of them, leaving the two of them alone in the cave not counting the still unconscious Scarecrow in a nearby cell. Lena having made the cave Batman proof seemed to have put the girl even more at ease. 

“What are you going to do with our supervillain?” he asked the girl who was breaking down pizza boxes without her mask on and her cape was draped over the throne-like chair in front of the main terminal. The yellow utility-belt and her gauntlets lay on a nearby workstation having been discarded in her epic eat-off with Supergirl. 

“Arkham Asylum wants him back, but he’ll be fine here for the time being,” Cassandra said and stuffed a folded-up pizza box into a black bin marked recycling or was that bat-cycling? 

“You know, I like it when you say more than five words,” he said without thinking and immediately wanted to kick himself for that, not at all smooth line, but the girl smiled at him regardless.

“It feels nice to open up,” she said with a smile and walked over to him. The way she moved giving him the distinct feeling that he was being stalked. He also became keenly aware of the sound of creaking Kevlar as the girl moved, there was a sway to her hips and she was still smiling at him. 

“I’m not used to… well, being this open with anybody, but your friends are relentlessly friendly and you’re not bad yourself,” she said and rapped her knuckles against his armor.

“That’s kind of our thing, we pull you in and smother you with friendship,” he laughed, and the way Cassandra’s eyes lit up made him want to keep amusing the girl.

“I didn’t say I hated it,” she shyly said and looked up at him. “I was here when you came looking for me you know,” she admitted glancing back down and looking a bit ashamed for going to ground after their escape from the Institution's trap.

“You were under orders to go quiet, I get it,” he said putting his hands on her arms to comfort her because underneath that intense and quiet ass-kicking Batgirl persona she really was just a girl. Well, not just a girl, she was an ass-kicker supreme and fiercely intelligent, but his brain wasn’t doing its best work right now. 

“I still feel like I need to apologize, you were friendly to me when I gave you no reason to be,” she said softly putting one hand on his chest.

“I know what it’s like to be in someone’s shadow and you've proven yourself,” he shrugged while looking down at her and even with what she’d called cowl-hair earlier the girl was stunning. 

“And if what Lena said is right and she has an annoying habit of being right, we're going to need all the friends we can get in the coming days,” he said, not wanting to let go of her. Looking between her bare hand on his chest and her large brown eyes, the silence stretched out between them until she spoke up.

“My adoptive father is an assassin and I was raised in silence only being taught to fight. He was hoping it would make me special. I didn’t learn to speak until I was sixteen,” she said giving him insight into her past. Cassandra was opening up to him in her own way and mirroring how she fought it was direct and to the point. 

“That’s horrible, my father died in the first Desert Storm, but he put me on the path to become the man I am today,” he said feeling her pressing herself closer to him.

“I’ve gotten over it somewhat. When I was sixteen, I ran away and Batman’s friend found me, her name’s Barbara and she’s a lot like Kara. She taught me how to speak and gave me the mantle of Batgirl to atone for the things I did while working with my father,” she said with a sad smile and pulling back slightly but he pulled her right back. 

“Superman saved me from falling to my death, became my friend, hell started my career,” he chuckled with a smile. Since they were sharing how they got involved 

“What’s he like? Superman?” she asked and smiled shyly at him. “Batman calls him the big boy scout sometimes,” she giggled, and it was amazing that someone so deadly could be so cute.

“Oh, he’s the world’s biggest boy scout and a good man, but he has these blind spots about a few things and he’s by no means perfect. You should ask Kara about it sometime,” he answered her truthfully. Clark was a good man, but sometimes he was too much of a naive farm boy from Kansas for his own good.

“I like talking to you more than Kara,” she admitted with her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink and there was no going back from that. 

“Like I tell my CatCo employees, my door is always open,” he chuckled feeling a little nervous for some reason as silence fell between them again. 

“What fighting styles did you train in?” she asked him, changing subjects and looking him up and down now. “I detected boxing, shades of Jiu-jitsu with hints of Navy SEAL training,” she listed a fairly accurate rundown of his fighting skills.

“You’re good and yeah you could say I’ve picked up a few things here and there. What about you?” he laughed, and she rewarded him with a smile and gosh darn it, Olsen! You know girls in capes are always trouble his internal voice reminded him and it sounded a bit like Clark.

“It would take me all night to list them, so let’s say I know a lot, but thanks to my father’s experimentation I do have the ability to read someone’s body language and predict their actions,” she said in that same soft voice looking up at him. 

“Well, that explains how easy it was to fight alongside you,” he concluded and quickly realized that he was totally missing the point of her statement.

“Not what I meant James Olsen,” she chuckled getting up on her toes before pressing her lips to his and she tasted like pepperoni and strawberries. Girls in capes! The voice warned him but ignoring it he wrapped his arms around her slender frame and picked her up from the floor as he felt her wrapping her arms around his neck. 

“You know, usually I ask a girl out first before kissing her,” he joked in between kisses but it was also a hard lesson learned from his time almost dating Kara what felt like a lifetime a go. 

In response and most likely reading his hesitance through body language, Cassandra grabbed his head and kissed him hard to shut him up, denying him breath for a good solid minute before letting him go and suddenly whatever happened in the past didn’t seem to matter as much.

“I’m not like most girls,” she whispered and clung to him. “And they made a good point, no need to keep secrets, there are rough times ahead and being alone sucks,” she explained her rationale for planting a kiss on him as she’d just done. Kara and Lena had indeed given a very good speech about working together with no secrets.

“Not sure this is what they meant, but I would still love to take you out on a proper date when we can,” he said with a smile and her face lit up. There you go again James falling for a girl in a cape the voice in the back of his head laughed.

“My nights are usually kind of booked,” she joked and raised an eyebrow at him. “But I think I could find some time for you,” she giggled sweetly and clearly enjoying being herself. The only sensible thing was to kiss her some more as he carried her over to the large throne-like chair so they could get more comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter turned into one of the longest ones so far, but I really love writing these characters interacting.
> 
> James / Cassandra yay or nay?


	10. Alter-egos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We spend some time with Lena, Cassandra and Kara as they go about their day

With a steaming cup of coffee in her bandaged hand Lena made her way to their home lab. Having left Kara to sleep a bit longer and wearing a green robe over her shorts and t-shirt she pulled at the spine of her copy of The Hobbit and the bookcase hiding the secret door slid open. Upon stepping into the lap she dropped her cup in shock at the sight that greeted her, but the cup never hit the floor because a swoosh of air signaled Kara’s arrival and the blonde caught it before it had fallen more than a few inches or even spilled a single drop.

“I’m pretty darn sure it wasn’t floating like that last time,” Kara observed calmly and handed her back the steaming cup of coffee.

“It wasn't and are you listening to my heartbeat again?” she teased the blonde who shrugged in reply as they approached the hovering Book of Oa. 

“Woke up and you were gone so I checked for it,” the blonde replied handing her the cup of coffee. “Should we be freaking out more about this?” she then asked poking at the book and it dodged her attempt to touch it. 

“Ganthet did say that the book had a mind of its own,” she said taking a sip from her cup and thinking that in the grand scheme of things, a floating book wasn’t the weirdest thing she’d ever seen.

“Is it only me or does looking at this thing give you a migraine too?” Kara asked shielding her eyes from the hovering book having given up trying to poke it.

“A little bit of one yeah, I guess Ganthet wasn’t kidding,” she closed her eyes and using the ring she generated a pair of green, expertly manicured, hands to close the book and put it back down on its stand.

“You okay?” she heard Kara ask when closing the book started to take a ton of willpower and she could feel it pushing back against her as if it wanted to remain open. 

“This thing… is something else…” she grunted, and no way was she going to be beaten by a floating book and generating a green-light holographic Supergirl she slammed the tome closed with a loud thud. 

Opening her eyes, she felt a bead of sweat running down her nose as the smiling ring generated green-light Kara, dressed in her original Supergirl-suit skirt and all, bent over a bit lewdly and placed the Book of Oa back on its stand as the book vibrated in protest to being closed.

“Is this a hint you want me to wear my old suit with the skirt again?” Kara teased her when she let the green-light hologram of the blonde fade away into a shower of emerald sparks after it gave them a quick salute.

“I love when you wear the skirt and you know it,” she fired back with a smirk and pinched her fiancée’s butt for good measure which made the blonde jump slightly.

“Somebody woke up frisky,” Kara laughed as they approached the book and in a highly scientific way simply looked at it for a while.

Tilting her head from side to side and she looked at it with her left eye closed and then with the right one closed, again highly scientific, but it did make Kara giggle. Next, she poked at the cover of a book and a green spark flew between her fingertip and the book and at least it was reacting to her, but it didn't make any sense. 

“Still giving you a migraine?” she asked the blonde who was squinting her beautiful blue eyes and studying the closed tome intently now.

“A tiny one, this thing is like you said something else,” the blonde reporter whispered in awe as she applied her vision powers to the book while leaning in closer to it.

“Tell me what you see?” she asked and soon they were cheek to cheek studying it, with Kara’s face a mask of intense concentration while she hesitated to tap into the Starheart’s energies to do the same. 

“It’s almost alive… but it’s molecular structure is like a neutron star…” Kara replied in an awe-struck voice and she could see the contractions in the woman’s irises when she cycled through her various

“You could see it too,” the blonde then reminded her, and she felt a bit ashamed to admit that she was a little bit afraid to do what Kara was suggesting.

“Last time, it was… overwhelming,” she said nervously and in response, she felt Kara taking hold of her hand and squeezing it.

Yesterday she'd tapped into the Starheart's limitless power and it had let her see the world as Kara did and she was still trying to process it all. In Kara’s words it was like staring into infinity itself and at the same time hearing the very chorus of creation

“I’m here with you, go on I’ll guide you,” the ever caring and always loving woman who she was marrying assured her and Einstein’s whiskers how did something as simple as holding hands make her feel so gosh darn gooey! When did she start using the words gosh darn for that matter?

“Here goes nothing,” she smiled at the blonde and let the Starheart’s power flow through herself and again the world became a hue of greens. The mark on her chest glowed through her t-shirt and she felt the emerald flames spread over her skin.

“Focus on the book, look between the seams of the atoms that make it up,” Kara guided her, and she squinted her eyes on the book as they flared with green fire. 

The last time she’d done this it had indeed been by accident, not by design, now with the Starheart once again enhancing her senses to match Kara’s she could see the atoms that made up the Book of Oa. Looking between them, she could see electrons orbiting densely packed nuclei. 

“See how the atoms are vibrating at the sub-atomic level? Try listening to them,” the blonde acting as her guide to this whole new world asked and she nodded.

“String-theory was right…” she gasped and extending her hearing for the lack of a better term she could hear the faint humming. Squeezing Kara’s hand and she felt the blonde squeeze hers back, this was amazing.

“What you call String-theory here on Earth is kinda right, I’ll tell you about it some other time,” Kara said with a smile and glancing at the woman again showed her a vision of pure power. 

Looking at Kara with her vision enhanced was again like looking at the heart of the sun, every atom inside the blonde was constantly humming and on the verge of bursting with built-up solar-energy and it gave the woman an otherworldly glow when viewed in certain spectrums.

“Every single atom in the book is vibrating at the same frequency, so in theory to read the book you need to attune yourself to that frequency to be able to read it,” she concluded forcing her attention away from Kara and back onto the Book of Oa.

Feeling the blonde’s warm hand in hers as a few more drops of sweat ran down her face, she peered deeper but recoiled at the empty darkness she found. It started to encroach on the edges of her vision, it wanted her to dive into and never look back and all of a sudden she felt cold.

“Tesla’s coils!” she shouted instantly pulling away from the Starheart’s power as her vision snapped o normal and the darkness around the edges of her vision faded.

“What’s wrong?” Kara asked urgently, wrapping her arms around her and shielding her from the book with her body.

“It’s… it’s nothing, I think I looked too deep that’s all, it felt like the book was trying to draw me in and drown me,” she explained and wiped the sweat from her face as the green flames around her died down.

“Read it only with a focused and clear mind or risk being overwhelmed, space-grandpa wasn’t kidding indeed,” Kara quietly quoted what Ganthet had told them when delivering the book to them and rubbed her back as she felt the warmth return to her bones.

“The question is, how do we do that? This is turning towards something more metaphysical and I hate metaphysics, too hard to quantify,” she grumbled and disentangled herself from Kara’s arms.

“Says the hero who uses the green light of willpower to make thoughts reality,” the blonde laughed, and she pouted at her which made her beautiful fiancée laugh all the harder.

“Oh, you so can’t do that look! This is how you do it,” Kara said still laughing before demonstrating how to pout properly and it was a devastating look. 

“Gah! warn me before you do that!” she laughed and covered her eyes in mock fright which made Kara laugh even harder. The distraction of Kara’s laughter was a welcome one too because the darkness had scared her, and she didn’t scare easily anymore.

“Love you so much,” the blonde said pulling her hands away from her face and kissing the palms of her hands. 

“And I love you stupid much,” she replied and found herself smiling like a complete goofball. 

“Before we get all distracted, what are we going to do about this damn thing?” Kara asked nodding her head towards the Book of Oa.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need to go somewhere quiet and meditate on it,” she admitted.

“We do need to spend some time in a desert you know, we could combine the two,” the blonde suggested and touched the bracelets on her wrists. 

When Kara had proposed she’d told her that certain rituals needed to be observed before they could be married per Kryptonian customs. One of those customs involved them spending three nights together in a desert. With the flurry of events of late and threats getting in the way they’d kept pushing it back, but now they were presented with a golden opportunity to mix superhero business and pleasure.

“I’m not good at camping, but it’s a good idea,” she smiled at her fiancée who did a happy little bounce before kissing her. 

“I’ll do all the prep work, don’t worry it won’t feel like camping at all I promise!” Kara said excitedly and kissed her again as she put her arms around the ever-excitable blonde and was instantly reminded of her bruises ribs and bandaged back.

“As always, I put my life in your hands,” she said being overly dramatic and she knew it.

Giggling when Kara picked her up the blonde then proceeded to kiss her senseless. But when she twisted her back the wrong way, however, she gave a grunt of pain and Kara immediately stopped and looked at her with concern written all over her face. 

“How long do we have before work?” Kara asked flying them towards the bedroom and lowering her down gently on the bed.

“It’s about fifteen minutes before we’re almost late,” she said and summed up a large green grandfather clock that showed the time.

“Good, that’s enough time for me to change your bandages,” the blonde told her firmly and, in a swoosh, she was gone and back again with their well-stocked medkit.

“Kara I’m fine,” she protested but her back told her otherwise and the blonde gave her a firm look pulling off her robe.

“I love you, but you can be so stubborn, and that grunt didn’t sound fine to me,” Kara told her sounding almost motherly before pulling the t-shirt up over her head and not even breasts were enough to distract the blonde this time.

“Throwing some big stones in that glasshouses there,” she reminded the blonde hero who looked at her unimpressed and she fell quiet.

Watching as Kara, with incredible gentleness, first unwrapped the bandage from her hand and inspect the red scar across the palm of her hand. The blonde then gently applied a Kryptonian healing salve she’d mixed up in their lab to the cut and slowly bandaged it up again and she found herself blinking away a tear. 

“Hey what’s wrong?” Kara asked softly finishing wrapping the bandage around her hand and moving to her bound-up ribs next. They weren’t as bruised as they would have been without the ring aiding her recovery, but they were still an ugly shade of purple in places. 

“It’s nothing, it’s just something stupid,” she admitted and sniffled a bit while the blonde undid the compression tape wrapped around her ribs and she grunted when the glue pulled away from her skin. 

“Well tell me about it,” Kara said with a smile and carefully inspected her ribs with her warm fingertips and no doubt with her X-ray vision. 

“Ever since, well us, I’ve been realizing that a lot of people care about me and it hits me sometimes you know?” she asked and watched the blonde beauty work. 

“Oh Lena, you deserve to be cared for,” the blonde said softly, kissed her cheek and moved onto her back pulling the gauze of slowly and putting more salve on the puncture wounds the black plasma bullets had left there.

Unable to speak, she focused on the feeling of Kara doing just that, caring for her and patching her up. Small plasters replacing the gauzes on her back because her ring had already partly healed up her wounds for the most part. The caring blonde then gently wrapped up her ribs again before carefully hugging her from behind.

“I’m here for you, always, you know that right?” Kara asked her and she mutely nodded into the woman’s shoulder.

“I know,” she squeaked out and was rewarded with a beaming smile from the woman she still didn’t quite understand how she’d gotten to agree to marry her before soft pink lips kissed the tears away from her face.

“Good, now let’s get you ready for work,” Kara declared and before she could protest the blonde had picked out her outfit, something that covered up the bruises from her fight at the DEO and she raised an eyebrow at the very sensible heels Kara had picked out for her.

“I can dress myself,” she laughed, but Kara ignored with a beaming smile in full nurse mode and proceeded to get her ready for work. 

“Hush and let me take care of you,” the blonde giggled and with a resigned sigh she allowed herself to be a life-size Barbie doll for the morning. In a literal blink of an eye Kara had them both ready and in the limo on time, with lunches in brown paper bags and the driver smiled when the blonde asked him politely to drop her off at CatCo. Yep she’d gotten stupid lucky with Kara Danvers and she knew it.

* * *

My name is Cassandra Cain and for the past seven years, I’ve been fighting crime as Batgirl. My story so far is pretty normal at least for me, raised by my father who happens to be an assassin, not as fun was being trained to kill, and I did some bad stuff before I ran away and met Barbara. She taught me how to speak and gave me a chance to make up for some of the things I had done for my father. Later I couldn’t save her from being shot by the Joker, but she’s better now, still, I will never forgive myself for being late that night.

Not so long ago I moved to National City to work on a case involving the Scarecrow. What started as a routine short-term assignment has since grown into something much larger and more frightening. Now I find myself in the middle of a world-threatening conspiracy and I’ve made some new friends, so I’ve decided to stay here and help them out. 

Cassandra looked at herself in the mirror as she rode the elevator up to the top floor office of Lena Luthor, her boss, her ‘maybe’ friend and also secretly the hero Green Lantern. Fixing her hair in the mirror she then touched her lips and smiled. She’d kissed him, it had been stupid and impulsive, but she’d kissed James Olsen. Glancing down at her phone she was waiting for Barbara to get back to her. 

_He’s royally pissed at you, but he’ll get over it_ her phone vibrated with a message from Barbara, the former Batgirl and the woman who had become a mother figure to her over the years.

 _He can’t be in control of everything, plus we kept Scarecrow out of the Institution's hands_ she texted back adding a frowny face to the message. As much as she admired Batman, the old man could be very set in his ways and had not been a fan of her having Green Lantern, Supergirl and the others over at her cave. 

_I think you and your new friends did great. I’ll talk to him and arrange to take Scarecrow of your hands, but you are persona non grata in Gotham right now_ the reply read, and she sighed shaking her head.

 _Thanks for having my back Babs, I’ll be staying here a while anyway I think so feel free to visit_ she wrote back and smiled, new city, new rules like she’d told them last night.

 _Always kiddo and I’ll find the time I promise, now get to work and we’ll talk later_ Barbara wrote back and logged off shutting down their secure link.

The elevator dinged and she’d arrived ahead of Lena as she usually did and set about preparing the CEO’s day and going through the night’s emails and news. The early morning quiet was her favorite time of the day with nobody around to distract her and no body-languages shouting people’s intents at her. While compiling the morning notes on her L-Corp branded tablet she heard the elevator moving signaling the imminent arrival of Lena Luthor.

Standing up she smoothed down her form-hugging deep purple dress and walked over to the elevator to greet her boss. The doors opened with a ding and she smiled at Lena Luthor as the woman strode out of the elevator in a blue pantsuit wearing probably the most sensible pair of heels she’d ever seen the CEO wear. Not that she was big into fashion, aside from the latest style of workout wear, but she could tell the difference between a four-inch heel and a one-inch heel. 

“Good morning Miss Luthor,” she greeted her boss and fell into step beside her as they made their way into the CEO’s office. Without her usual heels on Lena and her were nearly the same height and the woman’s body language was relaxed and at ease. The slight sway to her hips indicated that she’d shared a moment with her fiancée Kara Danvers before coming into work. Sometimes she really wished she couldn’t tell that by looking at someone.

“Morning Cassandra, how was your night?” Lena asked with a knowing smirk and she was reminded how smart the woman was, or maybe she was being teased. Then again the raven-haired woman had needed all of fifteen seconds to figure out her secret identity when she wanted to. The CEO of L-Corp was truly a super-genius and Bruce was right to worry about her as a business rival down the line. 

“It was... good,” she replied, speaking slowly and picking her words carefully until they were in the more soundproof office. 

“James was a gentleman, I hope. Because if he wasn’t Kara and I can have a long talk with him somewhere high up,” the CEO offered her, sitting down behind her big white desk and opening up her laptop.

“He was, ma’am should we be talking so openly about this?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, being much more used to Batman’s strict rules about secret identities compared to Lena and Kara’s rather more relaxed approach.

“Why not? I see no issue with you dating CatCo’s CEO,” Lena laughed giving her a wink and putting her mind at ease the woman then used her power ring to soundproof the office. As the warmth of green light washed over her and the office, she had to admit that she did appreciate Lena asking her about James. 

“Thank you for caring,” she said finding herself smiling at the woman now that they were safe from prying ears and eyes. Paranoia was something that came with the bat-symbol she’d found out early, not that being raised by an assassin didn’t make you paranoid either. Not really knowing what to say next, she shifted slightly as she stood in front of the CEO.

“You’re welcome, now I’m not good at this whole friendship thing either, but I’ve been learning from Kara as I go along,” Lena admitted to her and the shift in the woman’s body language at the mention of the blonde reporter was amazing to behold. 

“Kara Danvers is a force of nature, isn’t she?” she asked, and her boss laughed at that statement. 

Her limited interactions with Supergirl and her alter-ego Kara Danvers had painted a picture of a relentless optimist, but also a terrifying figure of incalculable power all bundled up in one adorable package. It was becoming very clear to her why Batman respected and feared Superman despite the boy scout nickname.

“That she is, now if you don’t have any updates on James Olsen why don’t you run me through my day’s schedule?” the raven-haired billionaire asked and smirked knowingly at her. 

“For the record we just kissed,” she protested feeling the need to defend herself, but it did make her blush. 

“Kara will still squee when I tell her that, if that’s alright by you,” Lena laughed and this felt so weird, her and Barbara didn’t talk about boys at all. 

“Only if I can be there to hear it,” she replied and found herself smiling. Despite having been nervous unmasking following Kara’s impassioned speech about how there shouldn’t be secrets between them for the greater good, having friends felt nice.

“Deal, now what does the day look like?” the CEO asked, and she ran through the list of meetings and calls lined up for the morning. 

“And I’ve made sure that you’ve got time free at lunch for Kara’s visit,” she said and that made Lena smile. She’d observed that whenever Lena was stressed, the arrival of Kara would calm her down and it made the rest of the workday much more pleasant for everyone at L-Corp to have the ray of sunshine that was Kara Danvers blow through the building. 

“It helps morale when she visits doesn't it?” Lena asked and there was that knowing smirk again, but it gave way to something softer and more vulnerable in the woman’s body language and she was finding that almost nothing got passed the woman without her noticing it. 

“It does ma’am,” she said with a nod waiting to be dismissed so that the CEO could get on with her day and a ping from the CEO’s laptop alerting her to the first call of the day saved her from further talk about James Olsen and Kara Danvers. 

“We’ll talk more later,” the raven-haired CEO promised her before waving her away with a small smile and she nodded, turned on her heel and headed out of the office. 

Sitting down at her desk she looked at her phone and there was a blinking message from James Olsen, she thought about opening it, but decided to wait. Things had been messy last night, what with revelations of secret identities and the worldwide scope of the Institution's activities coupled with some ominous being from beyond the stars coming for her boss.

This was all, admittedly, a bit beyond her experience as a crime fighter, sure the villains of Gotham City were scary and she’d dodged her fair share of frost beams and grasping vines in her day, but at the end of the night she could punch them in the face to put them down. Now she had to deal with a flying alien blonde that broke steel chains with her pinky finger with a smile and CEO that could create anything she thought of with a green magic ring. More confusingly both wanted to be her friend and how does one go about punching something into submission that turns men into monsters?

Making a fist she did a practice punch with enough force, so the pressure change sent a piece of paper flying off her desk. Glancing at her phone she remembered that she’d agreed to investigate the raids on various labs with James, she’d promised Kara that much and the blonde was too likable for her not to follow through on that. Plus it gave her an excuse to check James’ message. It was a simple good morning, so her panic had been unfounded.

 _Hi again Superman’s Pal_ she typed her reply to James and waited, humor wasn’t her preferred form of defense, but slowing things down seemed like a good course of action right now.

 _How you holding up after last night?_ James typed back and she found herself smiling despite her resolution to slow things down with the man who had too many jobs .

 _It’s an adjustment to be smothered by friendship_ she wrote back and found herself leaning over her phone waiting for the next reply.

 _I’m always free to talk about how to deal with super friends, maybe meet up after work?_ the reply read, and she wondered what the hell was she supposed to do now. Dating was hard, wait where they even dating? Was this what happens when you spent your formative years learning Kung-Fu instead of going to high school? 

_Meet up over pizza after work to talk about it? We can go over those notes your sidekick sent us?_ she typed out slowly hoping it wasn’t sounding like a date.

 _I know just the place, pick you up at L-Corp?_ James typed back and she looked around in case someone was watching, with the coast clear she allowed herself to giggle to herself.

 _5:30 PM, don’t be late and don’t drive as slow as you did last time_ she typed back and so much for slowing things down.

 _I’ll bring a spare helmet hope you can hold on tight_ the reply came and she felt herself blushing. Truth be told she’d always preferred texting to talking, no body-language getting in the way of things or words to remember. 

_See you then work calls_ she typed back and put her phone down and took a few deep calming breaths. National City was making her life way more complicated than she was comfortable with, but in a strange way, she didn’t mind it. Busying herself with work, she tried to focus on the simple things like answering emails and keeping Lena’s day free of interruptions.

* * *

Kara had barely gotten into work when Snapper was on her case through email this time, James was in his office smiling like a goof at his phone and she kept hearing people talking gossip about her as Lena Luthor’s soon to be trophy wife. Taking a deep breath, she let it all fade away, what people thought didn’t matter. 

Typing up her story about the mysterious attack on the DEO building, being mindful of not revealing too much, but painting Green Lantern in the best light possible she shamelessly used her super-speed to finish it and fire it off for review.

What was more important was planning her trip with Lena to the desert, mindful of the woman’s, call it comfortable lifestyle she wanted to make sure she’d enjoy their outing. There were Kryptonian customs to observe as well, and she was going to present Lena with her own cape with the crest of the House of El on it. For that, she needed to get Winn to help her. The customs didn't call for a cape per se, but she felt like it worked within the context of their superhero lifestyle. There was also the matter of the suitor's suit she'd have to wear and Lena would need a proper Kryptonian dress too, lots of needlework in the next few days.

The Book of Oa was a different kind of headache, literally. If she was being truthful with herself, she didn't want Lena anywhere near the thing. Everything about it screamed stay away, but if anyone had the mental fortitude to read the thing it was Lena Luthor. There was a knock at her door which interrupted her train of thought, and she looked up to see Alex smiling at her. 

“What brings you to my neck of the woods?” she asked getting up to hug her sister, despite their little spat over her interrogation of the Scarecrow it hadn’t done any lasting damage to their relationship or so she hoped. 

“Was worried about you, you blew through the DEO so fast after the fight and the next thing I hear from you is a text from you that you’re in a cave somewhere underneath National City,” Alex admitted and hugged her back. 

“Batgirl’s cave, it’s awesome, but she’s kind of big on privacy,” she explained and let go of her sister.

“Winn told me as much. Did you guys figure anything out?” Alex asked sitting down in the one chair she had in her small office.

“Kind of, I’m sorry I blew through like that and I was going to head over to the DEO after work to fill you in,” she said apologetically as she sat on the edge of her desk. 

“Is Lena okay?” her sister asked her next and it made her smile that despite the women’s sometimes professional rivalry Alex did seem to care about Lena.

“Nothing serious, mostly bruising, what did the guy she beat tell you?” she asked leaning forward being genuinely curious, someone had been able to hurt Lena and that had her justifiably worried.

“Sadly no, he keeps repeating his name and asking where he is,” Alex sighed and shook her head.

“That fits with their methods, the rest of them got teleported out right?” she asked, and her sister nodded waiting for her to fill her in as promised. 

“Oh right filling you in, yeah they seem to be operating out of somewhere in the Southern hemisphere, not much to go on, but Winn’s working on it, James and Batgirl are going to look into these others labs that got raided and me and Lena are looking into this book Ganthet brought us after…” she blurted it out all before Alex cut her off

“After you put the fear of Rao in him, I assume?” her sister finished for her and smiled at her.

“Yeah, maybe a little bit, hey no I’m not saying I’m sorry for being who I am,” she said catching herself giving a Kara Danvers like answer.

“I come in peace Kara Zor-El, but can you please tell me what's up with you lately? You’ve been all over the place,” her sister asked holding up her hands in defense and she gave a sigh.

“I’m just trying to somehow reconcile being Kara Danvers with being Kara Zor-El, it’s a bit messy I give you that, but it’s making me happy Alex,” she stressed to her sister and jumped down from her desk.

“I can see that, and we’ve moved beyond me telling you what to do, but remember I’m here for you and so is mom and Jess,” Alex said smiling at her.

“I know, I’m sorry again if how I interrogated Scarecrow freaked you out, but you gotta admit it worked right?” she asked and smiled back.

“It worked yes, and opened my eyes as well, so I think I need to get to know this new you a bit better,” her sister replied.

“You already do, I’m still me just bossier if you want Lena’s version of it,” she laughed and shook her head. Truth be told she didn't want to be a new Kara, she just wanted to be Kara, loving wife-to-be reporter slash kickass superhero, so she launched into a detailed explanation of how she wanted that to happen with lots of animated hand gestures and quite a few Raos thrown in for good measure.. 

Alex ended up staying an hour before being called away and she told her everything. How she was trying to be more open about her Kryptonian heritage around those in the know of course. That one day she wanted to live openly as an alien, as a proud Kryptonian and even raise her children that way. They’d, of course, talked about some of this before, but it felt good to get it all out in the open at once.

“So, kids uh?” Alex asked as she was walking her to the elevator, and she smiled. 

“Yeah, me and Lena have talked about our options, it’s going to be tricky, but I want to try,” she said, and it felt amazingly good how easy it was to say that.

“Well I’ll teach them the important stuff, to fight, shoot, play pool,” her sister laughed, and she impulsively gave the woman a big hug.

“You’ll be an amazing aunt one day,” she promised her sister, and she could have sworn Alex blushed a tiny bit when she let her go and the elevator arrived.

“That’s my ride, tell Lena thanks for the ray-guns,” Alex said, and she gave her a firm watching the elevator doors closing. Wait Lena gave Alex ray-guns? Rao that girl should know better, but if it made for a more harmonious relationship between the two it wasn’t all bad. Whistling a tune, she made her way back to her office, she had lots of things to plan and not too many days to get it all done in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kind of just flowed out of me yesterday, nothing major happened in it I know, but it felt fun to poke into the girls' brains a bit
> 
> The tune Kara is whistling at the end of the chapter is the original Superman movie theme btw


	11. Superhero Sisterhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The supergirls of National City raid an Institution stronghold on a tropical island and some bonding ensues afterward.
> 
> Lena questions if she should reach out to Lex as Cassandra gets a crash course in hyper Kara,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter spun out of the last one as I wanted to dive deeper into the friendship developing between Lena, Kara and Cassandra
> 
> Also, Lena is a horn dog in this chapter and you guys please enjoy these 7k+ plus words of action packed friendship this weekend

When Lena had thought about traveling to a tropical island off the coast of Africa, she’d always pictured it with Kara wearing a tiny stars and stripes bikini on a beach somewhere and her drinking fruity cocktails with little umbrellas in them. None of those dreams had involved blasting her way into a heavily fortified compound deep in some jungle with Supergirl using an armored Institution trooper as a makeshift club while Batgirl made her way inside through a series of underground tunnels they’d discovered.

Floating above the compound which was more of a fortress that rose up from the jungle floor she made sure to put herself on full display since glowing green made her the perfect distraction. The aerial view also helped as well since she was operating as a command and control center of sorts for the caped duo on the ground. 

Adjusting her stylish green visor that was feeding her video of the two consummate ass-kickers from a pair of ring generated drones following them as they advanced into the fortress. A ping next to Batgirl’s location caught her attention and tapping her green glowing earpiece she warned her.

“Batgirl you got a guard patrol incoming,” she said quietly and on the video feed the masked vigilante nodded before she launched herself at the incoming guards 

The two patrolling guards didn’t even have the chance to open fire before the cowled girl was on top of them and connecting with a heavy roundhouse kick to the jaw of the first guard she encountered. The cowled girl followed up with a vicious looking right hook that sent the second guard sprawling unconscious to the ground.

Gunfire from above interrupted her monitoring duties as an unmanned drone strafed her and that at least meant her role as the distraction was working. Pointing her fist at it she summoned up her new favorite creation, as a green blaster-cannon formed around her arm and fist and a bolt of emerald plasma destroyed the annoying interloper. The explosion causing a shower of debris to rain down around her with the pieces sizzling against her green aura. 

“Batgirl you’ve got more incoming,” she warned the girl when more pings showed up on the map in her visor. Keeping track of the two fast-moving caped crusaders while also blasting things out of the sky was a bit taxing, but nothing she couldn’t handle.

Turning her full attention back to her feeds she had to admit that watching Batgirl fight was a sight to behold. Every movement was calculated, there was no wasted effort or energy as the cowled girl moved like water through the half a dozen guards rushing up the tunnel towards her. Glancing at Kara’s feed she found herself equally impressed. 

“James is going to be so pissed that he missed out on this!” Kara's voice laughed in her ear and on the tiny green screen the blonde hero was throwing herself into the fray with gusto. 

“This is for hurting GL, catch!” the blonde shouted at the trooper unfortunate enough to step in her way and threw her improvised and screaming in terror club at him, sending both troopers crashing to the ground. 

It gave her an oddly warm feeling inside to see the blonde hero follow up on the promise she’d made, that the Institution would pay for injuring her during their assault on the DEO. Kara would and could hold grudges against those that hurt her loved ones. Though she should have a talk to the blonde someday soon about using people as clubs when she got mad. 

“Someone needs to hold down the fort back home,” Cassandra’s voice crackled in her ear followed by an ear-piercing scream as the girl twisted a guard’s arm who had tried to punch her at a very unnatural angle. 

Dropping the man with a quick headbutt she flicked three exploding bat-a-rangs into each of the other guards’ weapons and as they exploded she moved in close before setting about inflicting pain on anyone in her path. Wincing a bit at the sight of Batgirl twisting limbs and destroying joints, she checked in on Kara again. Bullets were sparking as they bounced off the blonde’s chest and she was smiling from ear to ear. 

“A girls only trip is way more fun anyway,” Kara laughed even harder as the indomitable blonde steadily marched, or more like floated, her way towards the front gates. 

The over-the-shoulder view her drone was feeding her showed the blonde hero staring down another hail of gunfire. Shrugging it off, the blonde took a deep breath and the guns that had been firing at her became encased in ice before shattering the next time their wielders pulled the trigger. 

“You shouldn’t play with guns you know,” the blonde chastised the troopers with a flash of red in her eyes and the men in response turned and fled inside the meager safety of the compound. This was all designed to intimidate, since Kara could be very calculative when she wanted to be. 

“Stay focused ladies, and remember we want some of them conscious,” she reminded her partners in super-heroics and then winced as a burst of laser fire slammed into her shields. 

Looking behind she could see that more of the Institution's drones were trying to dive-bomb her now and these had a bit more impressive tech to back them up, but with a flick of her wrist she sent out a horde of green hard-light miniature versions of herself that dismantled the drones in seconds with tiny wrenches and blowtorches and it again rained nuts and bolts all over the jungle.

“Well, this one is kind of awake. No wait, oh know when you’re beaten man!” Batgirl’s voice crackled in her ear and a loud thudding noise followed. 

“Scratch that he’s definitely not awake,” the girl then reported smiling apologetically through her mask into the glowing green drone that was following her.

“I’m at the main entrance,” Kara’s cheerful voice rang out in her earpiece and was followed by a loud boom as the blonde punched at the ten inches of reinforced steel that made up the compound’s main gate with glee.

“Any sign of that black ooze?” she asked and floated down from her vantage point high above the fortress.

“That’s a negative,” the blonde replied as shockwaves rippled out from where her fist connected with the steel doors again and again as the mental buckled before blowing inwards underneath onslaught of Kryptonian fists.

“No sign of it here either, maybe it’s only given to their elites. Making my way to their control room and going silent,” Batgirl reported in her ear and the link went dead and somehow the girl vanished from her drone’s cameras. 

The plan had been simple, Kara would go in the front door and draw the bulk of their attention while Batgirl would enter through the underground tunnels and catch anyone in charge off guard if possible, else cause as much chaos as possible. Now it was time for the next part of the plan, securing the rear and preventing anyone from teleporting out. Kara had, of course, giggled endlessly whenever her role as the rearguard had been brought up. 

Dropping down from the sky while sheathed in green flame she landed with an impressive amount of force behind the fortress, cratering the ground underneath her feet and sending ripples through the jungle canopy. Cracking her knuckles before focusing inwards she started building her hard-light constructs piece by piece out of green light and willpower. Slowly an impressive looking tank emerged out of thin air, then another and another until she had a veritable army lined up on either side of her. 

“Got to stop watching World War Two documentaries before bed,” she said to herself and then pointing her fist towards the back wall of the compound the row of tanks started moving forward as she floated behind them.

“What was that GL?” Kara’s voice crackled in her ear and she cursed under her breath having been caught out talking to herself.

“Nothing, just reviewing my late-night viewing habits,” she answered and was rewarded with laughter from Kara and a slight chuckle from Batgirl.

“Breaching the control room on your mark Lantern,” Batgirl whispered over the commlink and that meant it was time for her next trick.

“Standing by as well, wow if Alex could hear me now,” Kara’s voice whispered as well, and she shook her head at the blonde’s scatterbrained approach to things sometimes. 

The tanks were admittedly, mostly for show, the real job she had to perform was to stop the Institution from teleporting out their people like they’d done time and again before, once it became clear they were beaten. Pointing her fist to the sky a green beam of light shot up from her ring and rose high up into the air before a blanket of green light spread out and slowly covered the entire fortress and the hill it stood on, in a glowing green dome. 

“Batgirl, Supergirl you are a go,” she told them and through the drone video feeds she could see Kara bursting into the control room with the shattered doors blasted clean from their hinges as Batgirl dropped from a vent in the ceiling. Then the entire room erupted in a hail of gunfire and the room filled with smoke obscuring her vision. 

“Report? I don't have a visual on you,” she asked only hearing the sound of gunfire interspersed with the sizzle of Kara’s heat-vision and the sound of Batgirl’s heavy gauntlets slamming against armored suits and flesh. For a moment she worried that the smoke was more kryptonite laced fear gas, but she'd designed a counter for that and Kara now carried an emergency respirator in her belt now.

The smoke cleared when Kara blew it away and she could see Batgirl fearlessly diving through a hail of bullets at a group of guards defending what looked like the leader of the place as Kara went toe to toe with a heavily modified armored trooper. 

The Institution had been busy preparing for her fiancée in other ways it would seem and the seven-foot-tall, silver and blue armored monstrosity was exchanging heavy blows with Supergirl and holding his own, at least for the moment against the Girl of Steel. 

Watching the fight, she gasped when the towering trooper managed to knock Kara back with a rocket powered backhand and even drawing blood. Recovering quickly, however, the blonde grinned, and wiped the small trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth before brutally uppercutting the trooper of his feet in a shower of sparks and broken metal.

“Yes!” she cheered watching Kara unleash her power but then cursed when a row of what looked like laser cannons emerged from hidden compartments all along the fortress walls and roof and started blasting at her shield. Keeping an eye on the feed from the drone following Kara she focused on maintaining the dome over the place. If the bastards were able to teleport out this would all be for nothing. 

“What’s going on out there?” Kara asked sounding concerned over the commlink and punching a rushing armored trooper clear through a wall at the same time

“They’re trying to punch a hole in my shields to teleport out, end this quick,” she grunted trying to maintain the emerald dome under the relentless flurry of lasers as even more weapons emerged and rockets started slamming against her dome as well. 

“On it!” both girls replied and what followed was a flurry of kicks, punches and freezer breath mixed with heat-vision as the pair made quick work of the remaining guards and troopers. 

On the feed she saw how Kara was engaged in a test of strength with the heavy trooper she’d knocked off his feet earlier. Locking fists with the man the blonde hero slowly twisted the trooper’s hands backwards and the man howled in pain before the Kryptonian headbutted him so hard that his helmet cracked open and he fell to his knees before toppling over. 

A blast of heat-vision from the blonde hero then destroyed whatever terminal had been controlling the defense systems and she gave a sigh of relief when the laser cannons powered down and the rockets stopped firing. Another blast of heat-vision created a makeshift door for her in the wall of the fortress allowing her to fly into the control room.

Landing amidst the groaning troopers and guards that were strewn all over the floor like driftwood on a beach, she looked around and spotted their leader. The grey-haired man in a blue and silver uniform was pointing at her and shaking with fear as Batgirl cut a path through his remaining guards with almost careless ease. 

“The child of the green light must die,” he repeated what the thing she’d fought at the DEO had said to her in a shrill voice and black veins started creeping up his neck. There was the black ooze and, it would appear it could lay dormant inside a person. Things seemed to slow down around her as she raised her ring ready to defend herself.

Cassandra got to him first, however, as his eyes turned pitch black and before he could blast her with whatever black plasma horror he was trying to construct in his fear-stricken state. The cowled girl lunged at him, grabbing onto his arm pinning it and the half-formed black weapon above his head. Kara then encased it in ice with her breath. Stepping up and slinging her ring she then finished him by burning away the ooze with green fire. It all happened so fast and in a blink of an eye, it was over. 

“Well shit, that was unexpected, is he alive,” she cursed when the man’s eyes cleared, then rolled back in their sockets as Batgirl checked his pulse and nodded her head.

“Good, let’s start rounding them up and…” she started to say, but all the fallen Institution members started groaning in pain at once and those who had the strength grasped at the back of their heads.

“What the fu…” Kara almost cursed looking around as the semi-unconscious bodies around them started convulsing with the blonde hero moving at super-speed between each of them checking their vitals. 

“You got to drop the dome!” the blonde shouted having no doubt scanned each and every one of them in a blink of an eye. 

“But…” she tried to protest as things started to unravel around her as the groans from the troopers around them turned into screams

“It’s a failsafe in their teleportation system, drop the dome or they all die!” Kara urged her to do it and true to form the woman would never let anyone die no matter what their actions had been.

“His pulse is spiking, his body won’t be able to take the strain much longer,” Cassandra called out still checking on the unconscious leader that had tried to blast her. 

Closing her eyes, she blocked it all out. No way they were getting away again, she thought. Scanning each one of them with a beam of green light and she could see the microchips fused to the base of their spines. It was only a matter of time, she could analyze the chip and disable, but they were all frothing at the mouth now. Think faster Luthor, think faster, you can do this damn it, she thought to herself as her mind raced through potential solutions. 

“Lena there isn’t enough time I checked too. Drop the shield now!” Kara shouted at her interrupting her train of thought while pulling the helmet of a frothing young man and trying her best to help him but to no avail. Batgirl was holding onto a trooper’s hand now and trying to calm him down. This was a mess, an unmitigated mess and for a moment she thought what Lex would do and she didn’t like the answer. 

“Fuck! Dropping the shield,” she cursed again and the dome around the fortress faded away and loud popping noises signaled the teleportation as the unconscious convulsing bodies strewn around them popped out of existence leaving behind only charred circles on the floor.

There was a long silence as Kara stood up and looked around, Batgirl was inspecting the circle the man whose hand she’d been holding had left behind and as for herself, she was pissed and felt her anger rising. 

“God damn it all to hell, why can’t we nail these bastards down!” she shouted and felt her hair rising with emerald fire and her eyes flared with green flames. 

As the green fire flared around her body she hurled a fireball at the nearest wall, blowing a huge chunk of it out into the jungle beyond the fortress. Batgirl shielded herself with her cape while Kara watched her with a concerned look on her face.

Usually, she was not one for angry outbursts, she left those to the rest of her family, but this had gotten on her very last nerve and it had all been going smoothly too. James and Cassandra had found a promising lead while tracking down other raided labs, Winn had traced the teleportation signals to this island and all they had to do was stop them from teleporting out and they’d get some answers at last or so they'd thought. 

To add insult to injury she next heard explosions from below, no doubt they were from the compounds server room and they were destroying anything useful they could have cleaned from the hard drives. Hurling a few more green fireballs through the hole in the wall and into the sky she screamed towards the jungle until she felt Kara and Cassandra step up behind her. This was a stupid and overly dramatic outburst and she knew that. But she hated losing and so far, every encounter with the Institution had been a loss or at best a draw.

“Lena they were dying,” Kara said quietly putting her hand on her shoulder and she felt the anger leave her as the flames around her died down.

“Yeah, and we don’t kill,” Cassandra said solemnly pulling up her mask and she could see that the girl was equally pissed as she was.

“I could have figured it out... didn’t have time…” she angrily muttered as she stared out the hole she’d blown in the wall. 

“None of us could figured it out in time,” Kara said and hugged her from behind as Cassandra nodded in agreement.

“They’ll go to ground now, and we’ll have an even harder time finding them next time,” she stated and clenched her ring hand into a fist, but it was hard to remain angry with Kara hugging her

“We’ll find them again,” Cassandra stated firmly and joined them looking out at the jungle canopy and towards the ocean in the distance. 

“What now? I mean, we’re not due back in National City until tomorrow night and we’re on a tropical island,” Kara said after a moment of silence and satisfied that she was calmed down let her go from the hug. 

They’d used her being the CEO of L-Corp and owner of CatCo to cover up this trip, disguised as a land development deal that Kara was to write an article about and Cassandra being her assistant didn't need much of an excuse to join them.

“We’ll report this to the DEO, they’ll liaison with the local authorities and clean this up,” she said offhandedly and still feeling upset so she missed Kara’s hint.

“We could do that, maybe at that nice villa on the beach I booked as part of our cover,” Cassandra said with a mischievous smile and clearly picking up on where Kara was going with this.

“Good idea Cass and I could do with some sun. Plus, I packed my bikini,” Kara agreed with a smile while nudging her in the ribs as she finally got the hint. 

“Are you two suggesting that we drown our sorrows in fruity cocktails and pizza?” she asked them using her I’m your boss voice as her brain finally processed the heavy hinting, and they both nodded before looking worried that she was going to haul them back to National City.

“Because I could totally do with that right now,” she said with a smirk and generated a green bubble for them to ride back down to the sea in, as the two caped girls high fived each other for convincing their boss and boss’s boss to play hooky for the day.

* * *

The villa that Cassandra had booked was beyond nice and she lounged in a green one-piece swimsuit underneath a palm tree watching Kara in a red and blue bikini build some truly impressive sandcastles inspired by Kryptonian architecture. This was all being done at super-speed too, so entire cities would rise out of the sand before being washed away by the surf or blown away by Kara’s super-breath when she wasn’t happy with them.

“Is she always this happy and hyper?” Cassandra asked walking up next to her with a white wrap around her legs in a black two-piece swimsuitz of course, with sunglasses in her hair and sipping on a can of soda through a straw.

“Most of the time happy, sometimes hyper, Kara is like a perpetual happiness engine,” she said with a smile since the private beach meant that Kara could happily fly around at full speed as she enjoyed herself and nothing made the blonde happier than being able to be her Kryptonian self these days.

“It’s inspiring, but don’t tell her I said that,” the girl said and leaned against the palm tree gazing out at the sea, but then some sort of training clearly kicked in and brown eyes scanned their surroundings for possible threats.

“I won’t, and you don’t have to be so on edge Cassandra, we’re the only people for miles around. Trust me I checked,” she assured the girl who looked sheepish at being caught on the vigilante job so to speak, on what was supposed to be their afternoon away from all that.

“Force of habit I’m afraid, plus I guess Kara could pick up the sound of someone approaching from miles away,” the brown-eyed girl chuckled.

“How do you do it? I mean live with someone so… powerful?” the girl then asked pausing to find the right word.

“By treating her like she’s just like you and me,” she answered with a smile and looked out at Kara playing in the surf with unbridled joy. 

“But she’s not, neither are you for that matter… I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that,” Cassandra said and then gave an apologetic look. 

What she was learning about her new assistant and friend in crime-fighting was that Cassandra spoke her mind, often bluntly before realizing she’d perhaps stepped over the line. After all, when you can read a person’s intentions and predict their actions through body language the spoken word was bound to be a tricky thing.

“Don’t be sorry Cassandra, yes Kara is powerful and yes I’m currently the host of some ancient power, but underneath it all, we’re both very much like everyone else,” she said and smiled at the girl, hoping that she could convey warmth like Kara always did.

“I love her, and she loves me, we want nothing more than to live our lives in happiness and maybe have a family one day. Behind the masks and the powers, we’re nothing more than two dorks that fell in love,” she explained and found herself smiling more. 

The girl remained silent for a moment and looked at her with a measured gaze before turning her brown eyes towards the surf. A small smile crept over the girl’s face as she seemed to realize something and simply nodded her understanding. 

“Are you two talking about me?” Kara then called out from where she floated after she’d taken an impromptu dip in the ocean.

“Yes, now come join us before I tell Cassandra all your secrets,” she laughed, and Cassandra actually giggled having to cover her mouth so not to spit up her soda.

“Coming!” Kara called back and rose from the sea like a literal goddess, her skin glistening with droplets of seawater and her blonde hair, now wet and dark, sticking to her back.

Hoping that Cassandra didn’t notice how she was staring at Kara, but then she decided that the blonde was her fiancée and she could ogle all she wanted. Seeing Kara in a bikini was after all, for the lack of a better term, freaking amazing. The blonde beauty’s tan and wet skin glistened in the sun and every perfect muscle was on full display so much so that she found herself unconsciously crossing her legs.

“Lena Luthor!” Cassandra gasped and she blushed bright red at being caught out and forgetting that the girl could read body language like she would read a book. Right now, she was probably reading like a smutty and quite trashy romance novel. 

“What did she do?” Kara asked having no clue about what was going on and thankfully accepted the green towel she generated for her. 

The blonde still looking adorably confused wrapped the glowing towel around herself and she was grateful for something between her leering eyes and the blonde goddess’s perfection.

“Nothing, just your fiancée being a blatant horn dog,” Cassandra laughed and sat herself down on a nearby lounge chair. Another thing she’d observed was that once the girl had gotten comfortable around them following their first meet up, she’d become a lot more merciless in teasing them. 

“Oh, she does that a lot, you get used to it,” Kara happily chirped and sat down on the side of her chair still bundled up in the green ring generated towel.

“CEO’s always taking liberties with their staff, right?” Cassandra joked and Kara burst out laughing. 

“Gosh I know and she’s such a slave driver too, right?” the blonde joked, and she groaned at being the target of both the women’s teasing now.

“So, it’s capes versus non-capes is it?” she accused them and tried to look serious but ended up laughing when they both nodded in unison at her trying to look as innocent as the day they were born.

“I could wear a cape if I wanted to you know, but it would get in the way,” she defended herself and Kara giggled nervously.

The blonde was planning something, that much was obvious, but she didn’t press her on it. After all their trip to the desert was due soon and the blonde probably had all sorts of customs and plans in place for them. 

“I sense cape envy, it’s quite common,” Cassandra kept on mercilessly teasing her and stretched out on the lounge chair she’d claimed. Pulling off the white wrap from around her, the vigilante revealed her toned legs and a glance at them earned her a little playful poke to the ribs from Kara for peeking on her employee. 

“I do not have cape envy!” she protested, and Kara was slowly massaging her legs listening to them banter with a big smile on her face. The blonde hero loved when people got along and would often happily watch her friends interact. 

“Keep telling yourself that boss, but I think that next time we suit up, bam! You’ll show up in a ten-foot-long cape!” Cassandra declared mimicking an explosion with her hands. 

“With a glowing green trim and it’s going to flow even when there isn't a breeze,” Kara said with a grin, joining in on the fun and she threw the little umbrella from her drink at the sometimes-insufferable blonde.

“And who is paying for this villa again?” she laughed as Kara poked her tongue at her and Cassandra held up her hands in defeat. 

“Noted miss moneybags, Cass we shouldn’t tease her too much it’s been a rough day,” Kara spoke up in her defense and rested her blonde head on her shoulder lovingly.

“Fine I’ll lay of boss lady, now I hate to talk shop, but we need to figure out how to disable those chips,” Cassandra said thoughtfully chewing on the straw from her soda can now.

“I’ll work on it,” she and Kara said at the same time and the blonde grinned and kissed her.

“Jinx you owe me a soda!” the blonde declared, and Cassandra groaned again closing her eyes muttering something under her breath about getting a toothache from how sweet they were being. 

“Oh, like you wouldn’t be all over James if he were here,” she teased the girl getting some measure of revenge and Cassandra opened her eyes and looked at them again.

“We’re not… official yet… I think…” the dark-haired and brown-eyed girl mumbled going from self-assured vigilante teasing machine to a confused twenty-something-year-old in a heartbeat.

“You think? Hey, I get it, dating and super-heroics can be super messy and going slow is great. Not that we took it slow, maybe at the start. You see we kind of danced around each other for a year or so and I was I like so dumb and Lena is so stubborn…” Kara started to babble, and she cut her off by putting her hand over the blonde’s mouth.

“I think what Kara is trying to say is we’re here for you and you don’t have to rush into anything with James,” she said and smiled at the girl in what she hoped was a reassuring way. Cassandra wasn’t that much younger than them, but she felt like a big sister around the young woman.

“Mmfff... mfff... exactly,” came Kara’s muffled response through her hand and the blonde nodded eagerly in agreement. 

“I… thank you guys, James is super nice and isn’t putting any pressure on me, it’s just ugh hard to unlearn all those rules I’ve operated under for seven years,” Cassandra said with a frown chewing harder on her straw now. 

“I get that, it was hard to come out to Lena as Supergirl and this superhero thing is super confusing sometimes. Want a hug?” Kara offered happily already rolling off the lounge chair and holding out her arms for the girl.

“Do I have a choice?” the vigilante laughed, and the blonde shook her head before she scooted over the sand on her knees and hugged the girl.

“I’m starting to think that the sun makes you hyper Kara,” she observed as Kara hugged Cassandra much like she did her sister and the girl tensed at first, but then relaxed a bit and was smiling when the blonde let her go.

“I love being out in the sun, but I guess it does make me a bit bouncy,” the blonde said thoughtfully and in a blur, she shot in and out of the villa bringing cut up fruits and snacks on a tray.

“I’ll never get used to that,” Cassandra declared in an awed tone of voice, clearly still getting used to seeing Kara move at super-speed casually.

“It gets easier eventually, trust me,” she assured the girl and bit into a juicy piece of watermelon a little too hard causing the red and sweet juice to run down her chin.

“Kara! God you two get a room or something!” Cassandra exclaimed with an exaggerated huff and pulled her sunglasses down, but the smirk on the girl’s face indicated there there was not much seriousness or disgust to her statement. 

“What? Oh…” she asked and looked up with it being her turn to be confused, only to see Kara staring at her with her mouth open and wide-open blue eyes. 

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry Cass,” Kara exclaimed blushing bright red from her chest all the way to the roots of her blonde hair.

“Relax, I’m mostly teasing you guys, but you two are heavy into each other is all I’m going to say,” Cassandra laughed but still didn’t look at them busying herself on her phone instead.

“We’re not that bad, are we?” she asked, and the girl shrugged while Kara was looking like she wanted the earth to open up and swallow her whole.

“I think we are sometimes… I’m going to go and float a bit in the ocean, like a few miles out,” Kara said and floated mopingly over the sand towards the surf.

“Take this with you!” she called after her fiancée generating a green unicorn float in front of the blonde to cheer her up and she was rewarded with a happy squeal in return.

“Can I say that she’s a massive contradiction. I mean all that self-assuredness but then there is this almost shy side to her,” Cassandra observed without looking from her phone.

“It’s why I love her,” she said with a smile and stretched out under the shade of the palm tree because someone with her pale skin should not be out in direct sunlight she’d learned at a young age. 

The afternoon passed uneventfully after that, she convinced Cassandra to join her and Kara for some sandcastle building when the blonde returned from her exile of shame on the unicorn float. Then there was an impromptu martial arts lesson ending with Kara kicking a tree out of the ground roots and all before quickly stuffing it back in, hoping nobody would notice. It was a good day for the super girls of National City.  
.

* * *

Later with their bonfire burning low and with the sun long since set into the sea, Cassandra excused herself to her room claiming she rarely got to bed this early and that left the two of them to look at the star and listen to the surf. Sitting between Kara’s legs with the blonde’s arms around her as she leaned back and looked up at the Milky Way stretching across the sky.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Kara whispered in her ear and looked up towards the sky with her while playing with the strap of her swimsuit cover-up. 

“Thinking about the future, trying to take all these new factors in our lives into account and see where those paths could take us,” she said and leaned back more against the warmth that was Kara.

“I love it when you’re being all futurist, but sometimes it’s nice to enjoy the here and now you know,” the blonde reminded her and kissed her on the cheek. 

“I know it’s not the healthiest way to go about things, but I like having some idea of what’s coming,” she admitted and, on a whim, shot up a few small green fireworks from her fingertip that exploded above their heads.

“Pretty, but I know you’re beating yourself up about what happened today, but there is no way you could have predicted that they would do that to their own people,” the blonde said hugging her tightly.

“I should have been able to predict it, and it makes sense on some twisted level that they’d do something like that. I kept thinking that Lex could have predicted something like that,” she exclaimed feeling her ire rising again and felt Kara squeeze her a bit harder in return.

“No, you’re a good person through and through and that’s the difference between you and your brother,” the blonde told her firmly and something about hearing Kara call her a good person still made her heart sore every single time.

“Did I ever tell you what Sinestro showed me when I fought him?” she asked and wiggled to turn around to face her blonde beauty.

“Just that he showed you your greatest fears,” Kara said giving her a small smile, the blonde had never pushed for details about what happened during that fight and she was thankful for that.

“He showed me what would happen if I was more like Lex and let’s just say I don’t look good with a buzzcut,” she said giving a small chuckle.

“Have you… talked to him at all? Lex, I mean?” the blonde asked reaching out and running a hand through her hair.

“No, not since just before coming to National City and even if he’d agree to see me what would I tell him? That I’m marrying Supergirl? I think it might push him over the edge if he’s not already fallen off it,” she sighed and part of her hated that she’d lost touch with her brother over the past few years.

“You don’t have to tell him that you’re marrying Supergirl, just tell him that you met a nice girl and you’re marrying her and by her I mean me, because I don’t share, well it’s mostly food or girlfriends that I don’t share,” Kara countered her moping argument with a burst of her endearing customary babble and smiled.

“You’re so much more than a nice girl,” she said and smiled when Kara blushed at the compliment as she shifted around sitting on her beloved’s lap. 

“You know what I mean, plus Kal never gave up on Lex you know, and I don’t think you should either,” the blonde said and there was that unwavering conviction that both Kara and her cousin possessed. The absolute belief that everyone had some goodness in them somewhere.

“I miss my big brother sometimes, not the man he became, but the man he was,” she said quietly and put her arms around Kara’s broad shoulders as the blonde played with her hair.

“Then talk to him, you don’t have to fly in as Green Lantern, go as Lena Luthor and tell him you’re getting married or not tell him. It's up to you, but the important part is that you reach out,” Kara suggested and kept playing with her hair which was soothing.

“I wish I had your hope and faith in people,” she whispered and leaned into the blonde’s touch letting the calm it brought wash over her.

“You have something better, you’ve got willpower,” the blonde assured her and pulled her in for a quick kiss with warm fingers running through her hair.

“You’re right and I guess you never stop overcoming great fear,” she said, pressing her forehead against Kara’s when the kiss ended and gazed into sapphire blue eyes that almost glowed in the orange light of the bonfire's embers.

“Well to paraphrase a good oath. In brightest day, in blackest night, you will always have my might, no matter what fears we face,” Kara exclaimed with so much sincerity in her voice despite the horrible rhyme that it was hard to fight back the laughter rising in her chest and ultimately she lost that fight with herself.

“Oh Kara,” she laughed and hugged the blonde tightly feeling herself shake with laughter. 

“What did I say?” the blonde asked sounding genuinely confused which made her laugh even more. 

“Hoping Higgs’ Bosons I’m marrying such a dork!” she shouted towards the stars and then smiled at the beautifully earnest woman who was giving her an adorable crooked little smile. 

Gently pushing Kara down on the sand, she started kissing the woman slowly at first, but quickly her kisses grew hungrier and demanding. Kara allowed for her arms to be pinned above her head and looked at her a little bit worried.

“What is it?” she asked trying to calm her breathing which was hard when she was laying on top of the blonde hero.

“Cass might not be asleep yet…” the blonde whispered and glanced in the direction of the villa nervously. 

“Guess you’ll have to be extra quiet then,” she whispered back and how she loved to see Kara’s blue eyes go wide.

The white bikini cover-up that Kara had on was the first thing to go, followed by the blue bikini top exposing already stiff pink nipples to the chilly night air. Pining Kara’s hands above her head again she smirked lowering her head towards the blonde’s breasts. Biting her lower lip, the blonde gave a startled gasp when she wrapped her lips around the firm flesh and gently sucked on it.

“Lena...” the blonde beauty whimpered and wiggled underneath her as she playfully tried to free her arms. Of course, she could do so easily but was letting her be in control.

“I’m being a bad CEO I know,” she whispered and that made Kara groan and wriggle underneath her even more. 

Kara had a not so secret love for roleplay, and she knew it, be it in the bedroom or simply dressing up for road trips. Maybe it was time to visit one that they’d only done over the phone before and see how the blonde would react. Letting go of the nipple between her lips she crawled on top of the beautiful blonde with a smirk on her red lips.

“Are you enjoying the perks of your internship Miss Danvers?” she purred into the blonde’s ear and Kara groaned low in the back of her throat in response.

“Miss Luthor… there are people… around… but don’t stop....” Kara stammered slipping into the role and then moaned loudly when she kissed the side of the blonde’s neck before making her way down again to those incredibly firm breasts again that tasted like sea salt. 

“Shush then and think of this as your bonus,” she mumbled around the breast in her mouth, coating Kara’s tan-lined skin with salvia and she could feel the blonde’s hips bucking against her.

“Yes… miss… thank you miss...” the blonde timidly whimpered and then gave a relieved sigh when she disposed of her bikini bottoms and threw them into the darkness. 

“Keep your hands above your head understood?” she ordered the heavy breathing blonde, who in response nodded and stretched out her body flexing every muscle for her viewing pleasure. 

Working her way down Kara’s toned body was such a rush, kissing and licking those defined muscles and giving her cute bellybutton a little kiss. Her loving attention made the blonde suck in a breath of air and arch her back. Taking her sweet time, because she loved how Kara would fight back a barely contained growl of frustration and lust each time, she would dip lower before finding some new muscle or patch of skin that required her attention. 

“Be very quiet now, understand Miss Danvers?” she asked finally spreading those long legs and gazing at the perfection that was Kara’s pussy in the faint glow of the bonfire’s embers. 

“I’ll… try Miss…” Kara stammered quietly and looked down at her with hungry sapphire eyes while running her hands through her blonde hair.

Placing a gentle kiss on Kara’s slit made the girl gasp and licking it made her whine and bite into her knuckles. Grabbing onto literal buns of steel she squeezed the girl’s ass and was rewarded by a muffled moan before teasing her wet entrance with the tip of her finger. 

“Please... Miss Luthor... do it,” the blonde whispered looking down at her through half-closed blue eyes and she couldn’t say no to that.

Slipping a finger slowly into the warm tightness of Kara’s sex she was instantly rewarded with a low gentle moan. Exposing her clit and gently rolling her tongue around it made the aroused blonde clamp down hard on her finger. 

“Miss Danvers… so wet already,” she teased her before placing her lips on her clit and sucking on it slowly while sliding her finger in and out ever so carefully. By Tesla's coils she absolutely loved how tight and warm Kara was. 

“Harder…. Please…” came the whimpered reply and she was more than happy to oblige with that request. 

Humming and sucking greedily on Kara’s painfully sensitive clit she started pounding her finger in and out of the blonde’s tight pussy and the muffled moans grew louder and more urgent. The beautiful blonde’s entire body was shaking, and her breath became ragged as she arched up from the sand. 

“Cum,” she ordered the bucking blonde and the thrill of their little play-acting mixed with the somewhat public setting meant that she didn’t have to wait long. 

“Yesssss,” Kara hissed between clenched teeth and dug her fingers into the sand by her side as she orgasmed. 

Driving her finger in as deep as she could she felt Kara’s insides pulsating around her digit as she toyed with the blonde’s clit until the woman was spent and weakly pushing against her head. 

“Stop… stop…” the blonde whispered and pulled her up from between her legs without any effort whatsoever. 

Laying with her head on Kara’s chest she felt strong arms encircle her as the blonde rested her chin on the top of her head. Slowly the hero’s breathing returned to normal and she gave a low chuckle that slowly gave way to a laugh.

“What? What did I do?” she asked looking up at the laughing blue-eyed blonde with her best innocent smile.

“You’re the best and the worst you know that, right?” Kara asked still giggling slightly and wiggling underneath her.

“I’ve been called worse, what you want to do next?” she asked and kept up her best who-me face. 

“I’m going to go shower and get all this sand out of my butt. You Miss Luthor, you’re going to find my bikini bottoms,” the blonde ordered her with a smirk and rolled from underneath her. 

“Hey, no fair,” she grumbled playfully before summoning up a green flashlight to aid in her hunt for Kara Danvers’ missing bikini bottoms. 

“Less complaining more searching, I’ll see you inside,” Kara said with a smile and kissed her cheek before using her discarded cover-up to conceal her nudity for the short jog back to the villa. 

Listening to Kara’s footsteps fading behind her she found herself alone on the beach with only the stars to keep her company. Looking up at the sky she smiled and summoned up the vision of the future as she saw it. Painting in the sky in brilliant aurora like green light there they were, her and Kara together with their family and friends and with a sad wistful smile, she even added Lex. Maybe Kara was right, and the blonde hero usually was, maybe just maybe she should reach out to her brother.


	12. Big Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a Lena chapter as our hero heads to Metropolis to talk to her big brother Lex after Kara's suggestions in the last chapter
> 
> The mystery of the missing bikini bottoms is also solved and along the way she encounters a girl whose trying to escape her problems and has a little heart to heart with one big blue Boy Scout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short-ish chapter this one, I busted my wrist and writing is a literal pain right now! But enjoy!
> 
> p.s. if this showed up and then vanished for you I'm sorry I clicked the wrong button with my busted hand

In retrospect, Kara’s idea had sounded good and straightforward when the blonde had brought it up on the beach that night and as she’d thought about it while hunting for the blonde’s bikini bottoms it had made a lot of sense. Returning victorious with said bottoms, she’d then had a long talk with her fiancée about the importance of family and redemption, and even sent an email to Cassandra about looking into visiting hours at Metropolis State Prison.

Now the reality of the situation was staring her in the face. Being back in Metropolis was weird in and of itself but sitting behind two inches of bulletproof glass while waiting for Lex was weirder still. She was also feeling slightly naked without her power ring which was hidden in her purse because loathe as she was to admit it, Lex was almost as smart as she was, and it wasn’t worth the risk of him piecing things together. Also stashed away was her House of El pin which she seldom took off, but that too would pretty much scream that she was involved with a Super.

A loud chime announced her brother’s arrival and flanked on all sides by prison guards wearing an orange jumpsuit there he was, her older brother, Lex Luthor. Superman’s archfoe was led into the small cubicle opposite her and even chained and stripped of his wealth and influence her brother exuded arrogant confidence and power. Also, somehow, he was able to maintain his shiny bald head perfectly shaven even behind bars.

Glancing at the guard who’d escorted her into the room the man took a respectful step backward but remained close at hand and fixing her black Chanel dress, she picked up the phone next to her and waited for Lex to do the same. Of course, he didn’t pick up on his side of the glass right away, instead, those piercing green eyes studied her for a few moments and then he smiled before picking up the phone.

“Hello Lex,” she greeted him and tried to smile, Kara would have smiled, but she wasn’t the blonde reporter and it was hard to find the affection she once held for her brother when face to face with him.

“Lena, it’s been what three years?” he asked and still studying her, looking for signs of weakness or hints to why she was visiting him.

“Something like that, how are you holding up?” she asked trying to keep it casual, but truth be told the tension was as thick as the bulletproof glass that separated them.

“As well as one can be on a state-funded diet with one hour of exercise a day,” he chuckled and flashed her a smirk, that damn smirk was so much like her own that it made her uncomfortable.

“I’m sure you’re finding ways to make it bearable,” she stated smirking back at him unconsciously and raising an eyebrow.

“A Luthor always find a way, but Lena as stimulating as this small talk is why are you here?” he asked her flat out after a moment of uncomfortable silence between them.

“I’m here because I’m engaged to someone and she suggested I reach out to you,” she found herself almost blurting out because by Planck’s Constant this was easily three thousand times more uncomfortable than she’d expected it to be.

“Oh, I’m aware, they don’t keep me away from the news in here, though it’s limited to that rag of a paper the Daily Planet,” he laughed pompously at her revelation, but he almost spat out the words Daily Planet.

“Good then you know that her name is Kara Danvers,” she went on ignoring his laughter, but feeling herself growing angry at his flippant response. This wasn’t the Lex she’d grown up with, that man would have congratulated her and not laughed in her face.

“I saw the pictures, yes, and you always did have a thing for blondes, tell me is she...” he said still chuckling at how she would have thought that this would somehow surprise him.

This was standard Lex Luthor modus operandi, use anything you can to your advantage and put your opponent on the defensive. No doubt a lewd comment about Kara was incoming and nobody got away with that. Even without her power ring or tapping into the Starheart she was still Lena Kieran Luthor and she could play this game just as well as Lex.

“Lex, if you finish that sentence, I swear to Tesla that I’ll hack the prison’s computer systems and revoke your bathroom privileges,” she said in a low threatening voice and behind her, the guard chuckled.

“There is the Lena I remember, but that still doesn’t answer my question. Why you’re here when an invite to your marriage would have sufficed. Now that I would be able to attend,” Lex chuckled, holding up his cuffed hands in mock surrender as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and his cheek.

“I came because I want us to talk again, Kara thought it would be a great idea, but she’s got way too much hope in people’s better nature,” she explained why she was here and glared at her pompous brother.

“So talk then, regale me with tales of your perfect life in National City, playing house with a your pet reporter and working on renewable energy when you could be changing the world, ruling it like is your right,” he lectured her and she wanted to sigh and walk away, but something inside stopped her..

We don’t walk away from things because they’re hard, Kara’s words echoed in her mind and it was true. This was important, and even though she had no illusions about redeeming Lex. Getting him to drop the act would be a step in the right direction of rebuilding the relationship between which he’d destroyed and she had been happy to let fate into memory.

“Lex, can we not do this, please?” she asked softly into the phone and smiled at her brother who went oddly silent at her soft-spoken request.

“I’ve learned a few things over the past year with Kara, mostly that family is important and that you should never give up hope,” she went on picking her words carefully and he listened with his green eyes becoming curious.

“And you have hope in me doing what exactly?” he asked slowly and in a measured voice. No lectures, no bravado, but there was a hint of the man she once knew in his voice.

“I hadn’t gotten that far, but I was hoping we could talk like we used to do and I've got so much to tell you,” she offered and took a deep breath without realizing it.

“Lena, I’m not that man anymore, I’m happy for you and this Kara girl, but I can’t be your brother anymore,” he said with a slight sag to his shoulders, but it was only for a moment before he straightened up again.

“Thank you for saying that, but you’re still my brother like it or not,” she said firmly and hoping that with enough conviction she would be able to break through this wall he’d built around himself.

“You’re like an iron fist in a velvet glove as always I see, but I’m asking you to forget about me. The things I did, let's say that they wouldn't be conducive to happy family dinners I’m afraid” he said with a mirthless grin and started to stand up to leave.

“Don’t go, you are still my brother Lex and whatever feud you had with Superman couldn’t have changed you that much,” she exclaimed wanting him to stay now that she’d cracked through his shields and then immediately regretted bringing up Kara’s cousin.

It started with a low growl and then Lex’s eyes bulged out in their sockets as his face turned red at the mention of Superman. Then came the ranting and raving about how if only the Kryptonian could have seen things as he did, and she pressed her hand against the glass as the guards rushed to restrain him. Even in chains, her brother gave a good fight, elbowing one of the guards in the nose and headbutting another.

“Miss Luthor, you need to go, this can go on for quite some time,” the guard who had been standing behind her said taking her arm, but she shook him off and pressed her hand tighter to the glass.

“Lex, I’ll be back,” she mouthed and watched them drag her brother from the room, cursing and screaming about how he’d been right, and Superman had been wrong.

Outside in the warmth of the Metropolis sunshine, she allowed herself a deep sigh and slid into the back of her limo. It had been going fine, maybe not perfect, but fine up until she blurted out the word Superman and Lex had lost it. Having read the physiologists reports it didn't surprise, but it had been like an instant trigger. Seeing him so enraged had been a shock and maybe what he'd said about giving on him was true. Shaking her head to chase the idea of defeat away, she took out her phone with a background picture of Kara trying to bake a cake and failing on it. Smiling she texted the blonde reporter about how it had gone and waited for the reply.

 _I’m so sorry, Clark had tried to tell me how deep Lex’s hate runs, but I honestly at didn’t think it was that bad_ was the near-instant reply from the blonde reporter filled with hug emojis and frowny faces.

 _It was my fault, I shouldn’t have mentioned Superman to him, but I was getting through to him Kara_ she wrote back and reached for a bottle of scotch before putting it back down.

 _Don’t give up yet, are you going to be alright?_ the blonde reporter wrote back, and she smiled down at her phone.

 _I’ll survive, plus our trip is coming up soon, so good things ahead, right?_ she wrote back and added a smiley face to the end for good measure.

 _Yep and you’re going to love what I’ve got planned this weekend, or maybe find it a bit weird, either way, it will be a learning experience for you_ came the blonde's reply with a mischievous smiley face and a big heart.

 _I always look forward to your lessons_ she wrote back with a grin as the limo came to a sudden stop and she typed out a quick message.

 _Love you, need to take care of something so talk later_ she wrote and added a green heart emoji signaling that Green Lantern was needed.

Rolling down the windows she looked out of the car she saw that traffic had come to a complete standstill both in front of and behind them, as people looked up at an office building and high above, she could see a figure walking along the edge of the roof many stories above the ground.

“Stay here,” she ordered the driver and got out of the limo, pulling her ring out of her bag and slipping it on her finger in one smooth motion while looking up the building.

Discreetly forming a green glowing telescopic contact lens over her left eye that allowed her to zoom in on what looked like a teenage girl shivering like a leaf in the wind and pacing along the on the edge of the roof. Looking around she saw people pointing and shouting, but no way the girl could hear them, and she knew she’d have to act when she saw the girl lean forward and look down.

Running for the nearest alleyway and wishing that phonebooths were still a thing in the twenty-first century, she summoned up her power-battery from its pocket dimension. One more look around to make sure she was alone and she held up the lantern-shaped battery and pointed her ring at it while speaking her oath quietly under her breath.

“In brightest day, in blackest night,  
No evil shall escape my sight.  
Let those who worship evil's might  
Beware my power--Green Lantern's light!"

The green light engulfed and as always momentarily blinded her while her Green Lantern uniform appeared and covered up her black dress. Green shoulder pads and knee pads emerged from the black base suit and an emerald sash with the House of El crest appeared out of thin air and wrapped itself around her waist. Finally, the green glowing badge of the Green Lantern Corps appeared on her right breast and pulsed with light. When her vision returned to normal, she was dressed for action. and adjusting her mask quickly and tightening her ponytail she blasted towards the sky. Green Lantern had come to Metropolis if only for a day and someone needed her help right now.

“Look! Up in the sky!” someone shouted as she flew up trailing a streak of green light and came down next to the frightened-looking girl on the edge of the roof.

“Hi there,” she spoke softly, and the girl jumped, losing her balance for a moment before recovering it and the crowd below gasped.

“Shit! Don't scare me like that! Who… who are you?” the shaking girl of maybe sixteen, blonde and wispy, asked wrapping her arms around herself while looking warily at the green hands she’d summoned up to catch her in case she fell.

“I’m Green Lantern, but most of my friends call me GL since Green Lantern of Sector 2814 it’s a bit of a mouthful,” she said smiling her best version of Kara’s reassuring smile as she waved the green glowing hands out of existence.

“Guess you’re here drag me back home uh?” the girl asked leaning over the edge again to peek down and it was true, she could stop the girl with a wave of her hand and a single thought.

“I could do that, but I don’t think you’re up here to jump, so maybe we can talk a little?” she asked and sat down on the edge next to the girl. The girl looked at her like she was mad, but she kicked her feet and patted the space next to her on the ledge.

"Look I had a shitty morning and really I just came up here to think, I swear, so please leave me alone," the girl sighed and made no move to sit down or move away from the edge. The girl looked defeated and was probably waiting for her to encase her in a green bubble and fly her down against her will. 

“I had a shitty morning myself, but I don’t know about you, and I think we both could do with a chat,” she said not giving up and slowly the girl sat down, seeming confused why she wasn’t dragging her away in a green glowing straight jacket.

“Tell me about it, my brother announced he was enlisting in the Navy and then my therapist bailed on me and I needed some air and to be alone, so now I'm up here with people shouting down there. I wasn’t going to jump or anything, just needed to get away from it all,” the girl explained sounding like any scared teenager and again leaned over, looking down at the people gathered below.

“I’m sure he didn’t bail on you, tell me his name and I’ll check,” she offered, and the girl looked at her like she’d grown two heads.

Even if the girl had said she didn’t come up here to jump, her own battles with depression as a teenager and having witnessed Kara’s struggles with her post-traumatic stress disorder had taught her to be careful and a little wary when someone said they were fine.

“Doctor Stephen Chambers,” the girls said sounding curious and that was good as it meant she wasn’t thinking about her shitty morning or even worse jumping.

With a smirk, she summoned up a green glowing fully interactive map of Metropolis, even including the Daily Planet and its iconic globe and she started shifting through cell phone and GPS signals all visualized in real-time on the map, as the girl watched wide-eyed.

“Doctor Chambers is stuck in traffic on Third and Main, he’s currently on the phone with his receptionist trying to get a hold of you,” she said, and the girl poked at the map gasping when her finger went straight through it.

“How did you do that?” the girl asked and looked at her in amazement while waving her hand through the map a few more times.

“Magic mixed with a dash of science, and as for your brother, yeah I know that they can be a headache,” she said softly.

“Tell me about it, he’s being so stupid and not thinking about me or mom at all,” the girl whispered under her breath.

“I’m sure he has his reasons, what’s your name?” she asked and risked putting her arm around the girl as she left the emerald map of Metropolis hanging in front of them.

“Hailey, what’s yours, asking because it feels weird calling some on a Lantern or GL for that matter, oh I'm so sorry you probably can't tell me can you?” the girl asked and then apologized all in the space of a few breaths, much like Kara did sometimes.

“It’s Lena,” she said and thought to hell with it, the girl needed a friend and someone relatable to talk to, not a masked space-faring hero.

“Nice to meet you, Lena,” Hailey said and smiled at her weakly having visibly calmed down, but then the sound of news helicopters made the girl tense up again.

“Hey don’t worry, I’ll take care of them,” she assured the girl, also seeing the news helicopters approaching she threw up a green dome over them for privacy. The girl didn’t need her face plastered all over the news when she was up here simply because she was upset and scared.

“Now that we have some privacy tell me something, have you talked to your brother, like really talked? A friend of mine said that it can sometimes help,” she asked and Einstein's whiskers she wasn't good at this part of the superhero gig.

“I tried, but all he said was some bullshit about doing it for us and my future, but he doesn’t realize I need him here because if he goes I’ll be all by myself,” Hailey sniffled and she went through her checklist of what would Kara do or Jess or any of her friends and family that were better at this than her.

“He’s doing what he thinks is best and I think he really is doing this for you and your mom, I know that’s not the answer you wanted to hear,” she said and kept her arm around the girl’s shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I know, but it’s just not fair and then the stupid therapist got stuck in traffic and I busted my phone so his receptionist probably couldn’t call me even if she tried and now there are helicopters and shit and fuck my life,” the girl went on pulling out a broken cellphone from her jean’s pocket.

“Tell you what Hailey, first of all, don't curse and second I’m not the best at the emotional stuff, ask my girlfriend if you don’t believe me, but I could fix and upgrade that phone for you so you can always stay in touch with your brother, if you want me to that's it,” she offered slipping into the slightest of babbles and held out her hand.

“Sure, I mean you can’t make it worse and wait you have a girlfriend?” Hailey asked sounding shocked and surprised and handed over her phone.

“Yes, why so surprised?” she asked and floated the phone up in front of her eyes and using tiny green nanobots broke it down into its base components while examining each piece carefully with the green visor appearing over her right eye.

“Not totally surprised, but I’m curious who a superhero would date,” Hailey asked while watching her work on the phone.

“I’ll give you a hint, I wear something of hers on my uniform,” she chuckled and set about directing her ring generated nanites to repair and boost the girl’s phone. The screen was cracked, and the CPU had seen better days, but it was nothing she couldn’t repair in a few minutes.

“Oh my god, you’re dating Supergirl? No freaking way!” Hailey exclaimed after quickly spotting the small House of El crest on her sash and she smiled and nodded.

“Mhmm, for a while now,” she said and started piecing the phone back together one component at a time. To power it, she placed a tiny green spark inside it, a fraction of the ring's power, but a minuscule fraction of infinity still goes a long way.

“That’s so cool, so you’re saying I can always reach my brother now?” Hailey asked watching her phone being pieced back together.

“Yep, I gave it a little boost, go on give it a try,” she said and handed it back to the girl who took it and ran her fingers over it while hesitating and shaking slightly.

“Go on call him,” she urged her, curious herself about how well her little improvement would perform and the girl tapped her phone experimentally. It rang a few times and then a small green hologram of who she assumed was the girl’s brother appeared above the phone’s screen.

“Hailey, is that you? There is this tiny green robot looking at me right now,” the boy asked looking around in confusion.

“Mark, wow, this is so cool, I met Green Lantern and she upgraded my phone,” the girl giggled looking at the roughly three-inch-tall green glowing hologram of her brother.

“That’s cool, but why are you with Green Lantern, is everything okay?” the boy named Mark dressed in a Navy uniform asked.

“It’s okay now, I’ll tell you about it at home okay?” Hailey asked and smiled at her with endless gratitude in her eyes.

“Sure, sure, I look forward to hearing about it, sis. I’ll see you at home,” the boy said, and the hologram vanished when Hailey hung up.

“What you say we get down from this roof and have something to drink?” she suggested, and the girl nodded her head while hugging her upgrade phone like it was the most precious thing on the planet.

Summoning up her preferred mode of transporting people, her trusty green bubble, she helped Hailey on board and flew them up high before shooting across the sky, making sure the news helicopters couldn’t give chase. Once satisfied that she’d shaken the newshounds she landed them on a mostly empty street and dissolved the bubble into green sparks. Treating the girl to a hot chocolate and a cake pop at a nearby coffee shop she ignored the looks of the rest of the customers. They talked more about stupid, but well-meaning big brothers like Lex had once been and Hailey grilled her about her relationship with Supergirl, which she answered with some omissions for the sake of her secret identity.

“Now you promise you’ll go straight to your therapist’s office?” she asked the girl afterward making sure she got into a taxi and insisting on paying for it.

“I will, and thanks for listening to me and you know keeping me out of the news,” Hailey thanked her from in the backseat of the taxi.

“You take her to this address, understood?” she asked the taxi driver handing him a generous fare and the man stared at her in shock and nodded.

“If you need me, my number is in your phone, I’ll try my best to answer right away,” she told the girl who smiled at her and nodded.

“I promise I’ll only use it in emergencies,” Hailey said and knocked on the glass separating her from the driver. “Let’s go man, and thank you for everything Lena, Green Lantern of Sector 2814,” the girl said and waved her goodbye as the taxi took off.

Watching the taxi drive away she glanced at the coffee shop where the patrons were still looking at her. After all, a superhero enjoying an espresso wasn’t a common sight even in Metropolis. Then she heard a familiar swoosh, but the pitch was slightly off, which meant it wasn’t Kara paying her a visit.

“Hello Kal-El,” she said without turning around and behind her stood Superman himself and the patrons in the coffee shop started snapping pictures of them like mad.

“Green Lantern,” Superman greeted her as she turned around and smirked at the big blue Boy Scout

“Come to check up on me?” she asked and started floating up from the street with her sash billowing. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have in public.

“Came to thank you for taking care of that girl I was rescuing a ship of the coast when I heard the news reporters,” he said in that earnest farm boy voice of his and flew up after her.

“It was the least I could do,” she said, unable to fight back a smile. It felt good helping people, sure blasting things in the face had its charm, but actually helping someone, one on one like that was something very different.

With Superman letting her take the lead they flew across the city of Metropolis with people pointing towards the sky and talking among themselves why Green Lantern was in the city and soon social media was buzzing with reports how she'd talked Hailey down from the roof before whisking the girl away to safety and away from the press. She grinned like a goof as the alerts pinged on the green small overhead screen she always kept over her right eye when she flew now. Turning towards the landmark that was the Daily Planet building and its giant golden globe she started her descent with Superman beside her. 

“So, what brings you to Metropolis?” he asked, sounding like the very picture of politeness as she landed on top of the massive golden globe on top of the Daily Planet building and looked out over the city she’d once called home.

It had been home yes, but what felt like a lifetime ago, before Lex going mad, before L-Corp and before Kara flying into her life on the bus. Would she recognize the girl who had left this place for a fresh start in National City? If she was being honest with herself she wasn't so sure. 

“Family affairs,” she shrugged sitting down on the top of the globe and feeling mopey she pulled off her mask and to her surprise, Superman sat down next to her.

“I take it meeting Lex didn’t go as well as Kara thought it might, you can’t fault her though, she has so much faith in people,” he said sounding proud of his cousin and she looked at him slightly surprised at how fast he'd put things together from nothing but two words and her mood.

“You and Kara are both too smart for your own good sometimes, you know that right?” she grumbled, and he gave a friendly laugh in response to her moody statement.

“Lex was a good man, Lena, we both knew him back then and he had such hopes for the world and future, but something ate him up inside,” Superman said sadly, and it was obvious he missed his friend like she missed her big brother.

“Aren’t you worried it will eat me up too? I do share half his genes you know, and you weren’t my biggest fan when Kara and I started dating,” she asked the Man of Steel. Something inside her, some inherit Luthorness maybe, simply wouldn’t allow her to take what Superman had said at face value and let him off the hook.

“No, I don’t think so, you’re so much stronger than Lex and you’ve proven yourself, Lena. Plus, Kara loves you more than the world itself,” he said and gave her an awkward tap on the shoulder with his fist, almost like he was treating her like a boy that wanted to marry his cousin. Again, that traditional Kansas upbringing he'd received was really shining through, but the man was trying.

“And Kara does have a way of rubbing off on you,” she laughed and the look on Superman’s face made her laugh even harder. It was a mixture of pure confusion and slight horror and it was thoroughly amusing. James was right the man could be such a Kansas farm boy.

“Not like that farm boy, alright maybe a bit like that,” she laughed even harder punching him back in the shoulder with a green glowing boxing glove around her fist.

“I don’t need to know that,” he gasped and looked ready to stick his fingers in his ears and hum loudly.

“I’ll spare you the details Kal, but thank you for having faith in a Luthor,” she said with her laughter dying down.

“Family names are overrated, but I am glad that you will be joining the House of El when you marry Kara, though I admit it took me a while to get used to that idea,” he said without a hint of malice in his voice just acceptance.

“Thank you Kal-El,” she said in Kryptonian and he looked at her with a look of a pleasant surprise.

But then by Tesla's coils! Why did he have to try to speak Kryptonian to her? It was a shock, after only having heard Kara's lyrical voice make love to the language of her homeworld her ears weren't at all ready for what came out of Superman's mouth.

“You’re welcome, the crest suits you,” he replied, pointing at the small House of El crest on her sash and Rao, to borrow an exclamation, his accent was horrendous.

“I wear it with pride and maybe one day I’ll wear it more openly,” she said shifting from Kryptonian to English halfway through to spare her ears from the accent that Superman spoke Kryptonian with.

“I see that Kara still dead set on one day living openly as a Kryptonian,” he sighed and there was that Kansas upbringing shining through again. Be yourself, but in private and don’t bother the neighbors with it.

“Let’s not talk about that, I’m enjoying us getting along for once,” she said cutting him off before they would start arguing.

“I can do that, and I trust you to be there for Kara no matter what she decides to do,” he said seeming thankful for her offering him a way out of that thorny conversation.

“I’ll do anything for Kara,” she declared without even thinking and he chuckled.

“Like setting Mars' moon of Phobos on fire? I saw that you know, and it made for a fantastic article in the Planet, but J’onn must have been pissed right?” he asked and gave her that famous Superman wink.

“Yes, he was, and I didn’t mean to set Phobos on fire, but you should know that interplanetary flight is hard, and you need a lot of thrust to achieve it,” she said now smiling from ear to ear. Did he have some unknown superpower that made him able to put a person at ease? she wondered to herself.

“In any case it was impressive,” he said and then seemed to listen for something only he could hear before standing up. It was a gesture she was intimately familiar with having seen Kara do it time and again

“Day job calls?” she asked, and he nodded flying down to the roof of the Daily Planet building and with quick super-speed spin he was Clark Kent again.

“Lois would love to meet you,” he offered and the change between Superman and Clark Kent was startling. It was even more pronounced than the one Kara went through going from Zor-El to Danvers. Because while Kara let some of her Kryptonian heritage shine through when in her civilian guise, her cousin fully submerged it.

“Maybe another time I’m late for a meeting in National City,” she excused herself and he gave her a nod.

“Until next time Green Lantern,” he offered and stuck out his hand for her to shake.

“You know, Kara would be upset if I didn’t hug you,” she said in a slightly pained and embarrassed tone of voice and with an awkward smile he opened his arms.

“Wouldn’t want to upset cousin Kara, now would we?” he asked, and they shared the world's briefest most awkward hug on top of the Daily Planet building.

“See you around Mr. Kent,” she said after they’d almost jumped out of the hug. Putting her mask back on before giving him the Boy Scout salute and then she floated up into the air.

“Fly safe,” he called back and she took off towards the western sky trailing green light behind her.

In the end, the trip to Metropolis hadn’t been a total bust, talking to and helping Hailey on that roof had opened her eyes to a new way of helping people and getting to spend time with Superman hadn’t been as bad as it might have sounded at first. Lex, however, remained an unresolved issue in her life, but she’d reached out and would do so again. The old Lex was in there somewhere, she’d seen a glimpse of him, and she would drag him into the light. Picking up more speed she raced towards National City, her home, and the ensuing sonic boom when she pushed past Mach One sent the clouds rippling away from around her as she laughed. Even with Lex's outbursts, she would not lose hope in a better tomorrow! 


	13. Three Sunrises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara fulfill one part of their Kryptonian engagement ritual with a trip to the desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my wrist is busted, sprained not broken and my life is in boxes right now, but please enjoy this next chapter in my little ongoing saga of two dorks in love

This day had become way more stressful than she’d expected it to be and to make matters worse she was running out of time for planning her trip with Lena! Kara Danvers, aka Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl and on Friday night’s Mentor Zor-El or Intern Danvers, thought to herself when she landed on top of the CatCo building’s helipad and blew a soot-covered strand of blonde hair out of her face. A five-alarm fire at a fuel refinery had gotten out of control and it had required Supergirl to fly in and assist with putting it out. To make it even harder, Lena had been stuck in board meetings and J’onn had been out what with his vulnerability to fire and all, so it had meant doing it solo, like the old days.

“And when did it become the old days?” she asked herself, stepping into a small room that once been a janitor’s workroom as she took the time to peel off her suit and shake the soot and dust out of it. 

Having found the unused room on the top floor of the CatCo building a couple of months ago she’d been slowly converting it into her safe haven of sorts. It was a good place to store a spare suit behind a false wall and guarded by enough L-Corp and retro-engineered Kryptonian security measures to keep out even the most skilled snoopers. There was a sink with a mirror above it to wash up, a small table and a chair and mini-fridge she’d snuck up there. Granted, it wasn’t as fancy as Cassandra’s mini Batgirl cave thing or the lab at home she shared with Lena, but it was her little space and she kind of liked it.

Looking into the mirror above the sink she washed the soot from her face and shook as much as she could out of her hair. Studying her reflection, she started putting her blonde hair up in its customary bun or maybe a ponytail today, but then decided against it and let it hang down around her shoulders instead.

“Who are you?” she asked her reflection and of course it didn’t answer her, it never did and that was a good thing because she didn’t need any more issues to deal with thank you very much.

Slipping on her blouse she buttoned it all the way up like she always did, but then paused, gave a little frown and undid the top two buttons. Pulling on the pencil skirt she’d borrowed from Lena’s cavernous wardrobe, she smoothed it down to the hem that came to just above her knees. Operation Kara 2.0 was in effect and she needed to find a less nerdy title for this whole makeover thing she was attempting. 

Over the past few weeks, she’s been slowly altering her look when she was Kara Danvers, mostly gone where the cardigans and her sensible shoes had been replaced with modest heels, nothing as towering as Lena’s but with enough of a lift to make her stand taller. The pair she was wearing today was new and she'd never worn anything this tall before, it gave her some slight balance issues.

Now, her bride-to-be didn’t know she’d borrowed this skirt yet or had bought and worn her brand new pair of heels. That was because Lena had been out the door before, she’d even gotten out of bed that morning. The raven-haired CEO had been cursing up a storm too about old white men, also known as her board members, being cowards and weak-willed little boys the lot of them, but she didn’t leave before kissing her cheek and saying sorry about leaving so early and for the cursing. 

“Hiya! I’m Kara Danvers,” she said perkily to her reflection putting on her new glasses. Gone where the thick frames she’d worn for so long and replaced with a slimmer pair of rimless glasses. 

“Hello, I’m Kara Danvers,” she said to her reflection again while letting some of what Lena called her Supergirl swagger show in her voice. 

This was something she only did in private. Testing out slight variations on her civilian persona to judge how much Kryptonian she could let shine through before it became too obvious. The dream was to one day not having to do this at all, but she wasn’t naive, despite what many people thought. Coming out as an alien, as Kara Zor-El, it would send shockwaves through both her private life and the world at large. 

“Kara Zor-El you are a mess,” she sighed to herself in the mirror in Kryptonian and shook out her hair again and pushed it out of her face. 

Pulling the golden chain from around her neck she put her engagement ring on and looked at it admiring how the light reflected in the diamond. At least around Lena, she could be herself, and with Alex and Jess and of course, James and Winn and now Cassandra, but something inside her, something that was both prideful and distinctly Kryptonian was demanding that she drop this charade. 

“One day, one day,” she said in Kryptonian to herself and turned away from the mirror adjusting her engagement ring and fixing her bracelets.

Grabbing an energy bar from the mini-fridge she sat down by the small table and munched on it while taking out her yellow legal pad and doodling sketches and ideas. She allowed herself to be guided by what Lena had told her about the visions the raven-haired woman had seen during her way too many brushes with death. 

That was a sticking point between them and one they discussed but never found a good answer to. They were both protectors at heart and that meant that both of them had way too many brushes with death or injury for the others liking. But she'd never ask Lena to stop being a Green Lantern and Lena would, in turn, never ask her to give up being Supergirl.

Chashing that thought away she smiled as she remembered how those kryptonite green eyes had been sparkling with hope when Lena told her about what she’d seen. It had been a future with them as a family, children and all. Lena had given a vivid and breathless description, aided by a green power ring generated hologram, of a dark-haired little girl with blue eyes speaking in Kryptonian and Rao she wanted that to become a reality.

On Krypton children had been born from a birthing matrix, but did she want that and would Lena a very much human woman, want that? Lena couldn’t carry a Human-Kryptonian child to term that was impossible and building a matrix would take years with the limits of current Earth technology. That left her with the option of carrying their child to term and truth be told the idea scared her a bit. Natural births hadn’t been the norm on Krypton, and she wasn’t even sure how they’d make it work. 

There were however shortcuts she could take if going the birthing matrix route was their only option but boosting Earth technology by over a thousand years felt selfish and went against what she’d been taught about interacting with pre-interstellar travel capable civilizations. Sketching out the matrix from memory and making notes in English about what could be done using Earth science and material, she frowned, because it would take decades.

“Only as a last resort,” she said to herself and started rapidly writing in Kryptonian script instructions for how to replicate the missing tech. In essence, breaking the ancient laws of Krypton, but she wasn't on Krypton anymore and the needs of her race outweighed whatever ancient laws she was choosing to ignore. 

Once done she carefully ripped the scribble covered page out of the pad and folded it up tightly and wrote on it, for Lena with a heart around it. Placing it in the back of the hidden storage locker where she kept her suit she gave herself a firm satisfied now. That scribble covered piece of paper was for the future and it wasn’t like they were going to need it right away or maybe at all, she reasoned with herself. 

Checking herself one more time in the mirror, she fixed her glasses and finished her snack. Time to go write a glowing article about Supergirl saving the day and put that little troll Snapper in his place. Woha there Danvers pull back a little bit on the Zor-El bossiness, she reminded herself. 

Picking up her phone she snapped a selfie of her outfit and sent it to Lena asking the CEO what she thought about the intern’s new clothes, before then heading downstairs to work humming happily to herself. That was once she managed to find her balance in the heels she was wearing. 

* * *

The next Friday Lena was surprised, to say the least when Kara showed up at her office holding a red blindfold wearing her work clothes and a smile. Having spent the last few days after her trip to Metropolis putting out fires she’d not seen much of her blonde fiancée, because it would seem whenever she went off the grid the board would try to pull some new trick to curtail her endeavors and she’d have to remind them who was in charge. Sure, her and Kara had slept in the same bed, but that had been about it for their time spent together, with various professional and superhero emergencies keeping them from spending any serious amount of time together. Aside from the other day when she'd shown the blonde how much she liked the intern's new wardrobe choices. 

“It’s the weekend, send Cass home to James or the cave or whatever because we’ve got a date with the desert and the Book of Oa,” the blonde declared striding into her office after touching down twirling a red blindfold in her hand. 

“Do I have a choice?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and watched as the blonde stuck her head out of her office door looking around.

“Hi there Cass, yeah you can go home now,” the blonde ordered her assistant and she could hear a muffled “Yes Miss Danvers,” from a slightly surprised and confusing sounding Cassandra Cain.

“Someone is feeling bossy today,” she teased when Kara marched up to her desk and waited for her to finish up with her hands on her hips in the classic Supergirl power pose.

“Finish up, we’ve got lots to do and I’ve been waiting all week to spend some actual time with you,” the blonde said and then smiled shyly before adding. “Please?”

“And the blindfold is for what exactly?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and started finishing up her last few emails of the week. 

“Nothing like that you pervy CEO, I’m taking you somewhere and it has to be a surprise, Kryptonian rules,” Kara explained and fiddled with the blindfold blushing slightly. 

“Well if it’s the rules I guess I have no choice,” she laughed and stood up closing her laptop for the weekend. 

Walking up to Kara she smirked at the nervous-looking blonde and made sure to put a little extra sway into her hips. Distracting the blonde reporter was almost like a game between them at this point, but it was one that she enjoyed thoroughly. 

“I’m at your mercy, Kara Zor-El,” she said turning around with her back to the woman who had gone silent and had to lick her lips before speaking.

“It’s not a long flight, but you should use your ring, so you don’t get cold,” Kara instructed her and put the blindfold over her eyes before tying it behind her head. 

With the world going dark she felt Kara pick her up bridal carry style and she felt herself rising into the air before the wind hit her face. It wasn’t an overly long flight but after a while, she felt a bit bored and started trying to peek through the blindfold.

“Again, is the blindfold really necessary?” she asked her blonde and beautiful, but also sometimes a bit annoying fiancée as she was carried in her arms through the skies and tried to, again, peek from underneath the red blindfold Kara had insisted she was to wear. 

“For the twelfth time, yes and stop peeking! You’re a habitual peeker you know,” Kara chastised her with a giggle and flew them towards their weekend retreat in the desert which the blonde hero had prepared for them with much secrecy, blindfold needed secrecy as it turned out. 

“You do know I can fly right? Like with or without the ring?” she grumbled, not that flying in the blonde’s arms was a bad thing, but it did kind of destroy her whole strong independent woman image and once a control freak always a control freak. 

“I know, but this is important, the old customs state that the suitor must ferry their bride to be to the location of their sojourn in the desert, so I’m ferrying,” the blonde explained and pulled the blindfold back into place over her eyes.

“Ferry away then my suitor,” she teased her in Kryptonian and nuzzled herself against the crook of the woman’s neck lovingly. Kissing the patch of skin just above the collar of the blonde's blouse.

“Trying… to fly… here…” Kara groaned out at the sudden contact of red lips against her skin and they dipped slightly.

“I’ve seen you multitask, stop complaining,” she giggled into the blonde’s ear and only Kara could make her giggle she thought as she felt their flightpath straighten out again.

Trying to distract Kara made their flight go by faster and after two more attempts at peeking underneath the blindfold, she felt their feet touch the ground. It felt nice when Kara put her hands on her hips and turned her in the right direction, there was something about being guided and moved around by Kara that she simply enjoyed. Being able to trust someone as deeply as she did Kara was rare for her. And you do love kneeling before Zor-El after all, her inner voice reminded her.

“I’m going to go change, you ummm... count to ten slowly then take the blindfold off okay?” the blonde said into her ear and then she felt that telltale gust of wind that signaled super-speed movement.

“One, two, three,” she started counting slowly and she could hear rustling from nearby, followed by a loud squeak from Kara.

“Four, five, you alright there?” she asked with another giggle and felt herself smiling as she put her hands on the blindfold.

“Hate spider! Keep counting,” came a slightly muffled response from the sounds of it very busy blonde if she wasn't mistaken the woman was having trouble getting into her change of clothes.

“Six, seven, you know, later I’m making you wear this blindfold and nothing else,” she teased and hooked her fingers under the red blindfold.

“Uhhhh yeah… okay... stop stalling,” Kara replied with a slight stutter and she heard the crackling sounds of Kara’s heat-vision and felt the warmth on her skin as wood crackled with afire flaring to life in front of her. 

“Eight, nine, ten!” she declared pulling off the blindfold and gasped when she saw what Kara had been doing and where she’d brought her.

They were in the desert, well it was a desert she'd triangulate their exact location later, with mountains visible in the distance and all around them reddish sand. In front of her stood a brazier with a roaring fire in it and next to it stood Kara Zor-El and the sight was breathtaking. 

The orange glow of the fire made the white version of her suit the blonde was wearing glow and across her chest was the crest of House of El in silver which shimmered a golden-reddish hue from the reflective flames of the fire. Her mass of blonde hair was down and framed her face as it spilled over her strong shoulders. Sapphire blue eyes as deep as the ocean met hers and she gulped at the intensity she saw in them.

Behind the vision that was Kara Zor-El was their tent, and the girl had outdone herself that what was so sure. It was like something out of Arabian Nights, a truly palatial abode fit for a queen or the last regal daughter of Krypton. Everything was a brilliant shade of white and silver and through the tent’s open flaps she could see a low full-size bed, so no sleeping on the ground for them. The blonde had also timed things perfectly as well and the sun was setting behind her when she spoke. 

“Welcome my beloved bride to be,” Kara welcomed her formally in Kryptonian holding out her hand. The white outfit the blonde wore was trimmed with silver and every bit as form-fitting as the one she fought evil in but without a cape and the white in it almost glowed as if the light was coming from within Kara.

Stepping forward she took the offered hand and smiled and felt herself blushing when Kara smiled back at her. Feeling a bit underdressed in her daily business attire, red blouse and black skirt, Kara’s favorite since it reminded her of the first time they met, the blonde sensed her slight unease.

“I took the liberty of preparing something for you to wear, I’ll wait out here,” the blonde said, leading her to the opening of the tent and helping her inside. 

“You can watch you know,” she teased switching to Kryptonian effortlessly, but Kara was in her deadly serious mode right now and simply shook her head. 

“It is not proper that I do so,” Kara spoke in very formal Kryptonian and bowed indicating that she should go inside and change. 

Inside the tent, she saw that Kara had indeed gone above and beyond to make this as comfortable as possible for them. The low bed looked amazing and she couldn’t wait to get Kara on it and there was a small dining area set up with carefully hidden coolers of food. Hanging off one of the tentpoles she found that Kara had taken the liberty of preparing something spectacular for her to wear. It was a brilliant white and long-sleeved Kryptonian dress, floor-length and trimmed with green with the silver House of El crest across the chest

Silently she walked up to it and ran her fingers over the fabric, it was like nothing she’d ever felt before, how had Kara done all of this in the span of a few days. Then she shook her head and reminded herself that Kara was Supergirl. Smiling she put her hand over the House of El pin she always wore on the lapel of her jackets, it had been a gift from Kara when the blonde hero had welcomed her to the House of El after she recovered from her fight with Sinestro. Now Kara was gifting her the real thing.

Undressing she hummed to herself, kicking off her heels she decided that she’d be herself for tonight and forgo them entirely since Kara hadn’t prepared shoes for her. Folding up her skirt, jacket, and top, she smirked to herself as she discarded her bra and panties as well and shivered slightly in the nighttime air. The fabric of the dress felt warm against her skin when she slipped it on and adjusted the silver belt around her hips. 

Wiggling her toes on the carpet strewn floor of the tent she found a mirror that Kara had thoughtfully hung up and looked at her reflection in it. Reaching up she pulled her hair out of its customary business-like bun and shook it out, so it fell down over her shoulders It wasn’t as long as Kara’s by any stretch but letting it down felt freeing as she studied herself. 

“You’ve come a long way Luthor,” she whispered to her reflection and traced the outline of the crest that adorned her chest now. Cheating a bit, she used her power ring to remove the makeup she wore, stripping away what she’d always viewed as her armor and now she could face Kara Zor-El as simply Lena.

Peeking out of the tent she could see Kara pacing in circles around the fire, the flames flickering off the white suit she wore as the blonde kicked up red sand with her knee-high silver boots and then adjusted her belt. 

“I’m ready,” she declared slipping into Kryptonian again and the look on Kara’s face was priceless. 

Stepping out into the desert night the red sand felt warm underneath her bare feet and the blonde’s gaze made her feel even warmer inside. Fiddling with the sleeves of her dress she felt nervous and thrilled at the same time as she waited for Kara to speak.

“Rao!” the blonde Kryptonian gasped and straightened herself up when she walked up to her and gazed up into those stunning blue eyes and without heels on, she was quite a bit shorter than the statuesque blonde.

“Glad you approve, now are you going to tell me who made this dress? Because I’m loving it,” she giggled and did a little twirl allowing herself to be girly.

“I did, but I had some help from Winn with the design,” Kara said with a laugh and the way the woman’s face lit up when she laughed would never get old.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” she asked with a smile and Kara with her blue eyes gazing down at her nodded.

“Still can’t cook,” the blonde admitted and in response, he got up onto her toes and kissed those pink lips. 

“What happens now?” she asked pulling back from the kiss and putting her hands on Kara’s hips, holding the blonde hero close.

“The old customs state that we should talk about our future, but we’ve done that a lot already, so we can do whatever you want,” the blonde said.

“I would love to sit with you awhile then,” she said and pulled the blonde down to the ground, so they sat side by side looking into the fire and she felt Kara put an arm around her shoulders. 

“You really like the dress?” Kara asked and she leaned into the woman with a smile on her face.

“I love it, but I’m curious about what material you used,” she admitted, and Kara chuckled.

“I reversed engineered it from Kal’s blanket and I love your big brain, you know that right?” the blonde asked and kissed the top of her head.

“You may have mentioned that, so your outfit, what is the significance?” she asked and traced the outline of the crest on Kara’s chest.

“It’s Kryptonian formalwear in a way, I guess. I wanted to put my best foot forward after all, do you like it?” the blonde asked watching her fingers moving against the cool metal of the crest.

“You look stunning in it,” she assured her fiancée and was rewarded with a beaming smile.

“Girls on Krypton didn’t usually wear this, but it felt right you know?” Kara asked sounding slightly nervous and she snuggled closer. 

“Kara, relax, you look amazing and I can’t wait to get you out of it,” she laughed and kissed the blonde hero on the cheek.

“Well, I can’t wait to see you in a tux,” the blonde admitted, referring to their still nowhere near planned enough Earth wedding and turned her face to turn the peck on the cheek into a full-blown kiss.

“I’ll try my best to impress you,” she laughed and pulled Kara in for a deeper and longer kiss as the fire crackled in front of them.

“You do that every day,” Kara replied and pushed her down on the ground, the red sand warm underneath them and the stars were coming out in the sky above them.

“Oh, shut up and kiss me some more,” she laughed because Kara could be a relentless flatterer sometimes and the blonde enthusiastically obeyed her suggestion. 

They fooled around on the sand for a little bit before Kara declared that she didn’t want a repeat of the sand in her butt incident from their time on the beach and picked her up boldly. Allowing herself to be carried into the tent and laid down on the low bed she smiled up to her blonde goddess and in Kryptonian told her that she could do whatever she wanted to her. The growl from Kara made her shiver and squirm and then her world became a blur of her pale skin against Kara's tan skin and red lips against pink ones.

* * *

The next morning Kara woke up and rolled out of the bed, leaving Lena to sleep a bit more since it wasn’t quite sunrise yet, and she had things to prepare. First, she laid out their breakfast in their little dining area and then she pulled on her white suit again and walked outside barefoot. 

Being here away from, well, everything, felt nice, no looming threats here in the desert, only the two of them and the endless red sands. Last night had been wonderful, they’d spoken in Kryptonian the entire night and even during sex. The customs did mention that the pair should be chaste, but she’d decided that they weren’t on Krypton so that rule didn’t apply, she could be flexible like that. 

It had all made her ache for home though, but it had also made her feel like she now had a bit of Krypton here on Earth with Lena. Maybe one day she’d write a book about it and retire from journalism she thought with a grin. It would be a great and grand love story starring Kara Zor-El and Lena Thurol, set it in some magical land far away and then she’d sell the rights to HBO and the thought made her giggle. 

“For the record, you’re never up this early back home,” Lena’s soft voice speaking the language of her homeworld came from behind her and she jumped slightly, and half turned to face the owner of those wonderful husky tones. 

Stepping out of the tent Lena was still nude as the day when she was born but wrapped up in a thick blanket for warmth and the pale raven-haired woman had a glow about her this morning that made her heart sing. 

“Well, we have to see the sunrise and it's my duty to stand guard,” she said and watched as Lena walked up to her with that gosh-darned sway to her hips. 

“That’s still fifteen minutes away at least,” Lena said while glancing at the sky and then kissing her good morning with a smirk gracing her lips. 

“I could relight the brazier,” she offered and the pale woman she loved shook her head and wrapped the blanket around the both of them. 

“No, you’re plenty warm for the both of us,” the green-eyed woman said snuggling close to her and she wrapped her arms around her in return.

It was rare to see Lena like this, stripped of her make-up, designer outfits, and her heels. At no time would she call Lena helpless or fragile but seeing all the layers peeled back still amazed her. Underneath the CEO armor or the Green Lantern uniform was this beautiful raven-haired, green-eyed, pale-skinned and dare she think it, voluptuous woman with a gentle soul and a heart full of hope.

“Why are you smiling like that?” the CEO of her heart asked looking up at her with wide kryptonite green eyes.

“Thinking how stupid lucky I got by stumbling into your office that one afternoon,” she answered and felt herself blush under Lena’s gaze. It was a problem she’d had since they first met, the woman had this way about her that made it hard not to feel flushed like all the time.

“You do words good you know that, right,” Lena teased her with that same gosh-darned irresistible smirk and kissed her on the nose.

“Hey! I do words supremely good,” she laughed and rested her head on top of Lena’s as they faced the mountains to the east and waited for the sun to rise.

“I’ve been thinking about that girl Hailey you told me about,” she then said and squeezed her beloved.

“Oh, how come?” Lena asked snuggling a bit closer to the warmth of her body and something about how they fit together perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle just felt so right.

“Mostly that in another world that could have been you or me on that rooftop,” she admitted and shivered slightly at the thought. 

“I know, I remember what a mess I was after Lex turned to the dark side sort to speak and I can never imagine what you felt when you woke up on Earth,” Lena said softly and squeezed her back.

“Maybe Supergirl can reach out more to people who are struggling, I know we already save people, advocate for alien acceptance and there is your National City restoration project, but the brain is an important thing to all people,” she tried to word what she was thinking, but it was a little bit hard.

“If anyone can do it is Supergirl,” Lena told her reassuringly and with such pride in her voice that she felt her stomach do a little flip. 

“Still can’t believe you told her that we’re dating as Supergirl and Green Lantern,” she laughed and raised her eyebrow, but she couldn’t quite do it on purpose as Lena and Cassandra did, so instead both eyebrows rose up making her look surprised. 

“Aren’t we though? You keep talking about breaking down the walls between all these alter-egos we seem to have,” the raven-haired girl asked giggling at her surprised look lovingly. 

“I guess we are, maybe we should do a superhero date someday,” she giggled at the idea of them dating while wearing their masks. The idea did appeal to her on some naughty level which she’d discovered she had when she’d started dating Lena. 

“You’re such a goofball, but don’t think I don’t see those wheels in your head turning Miss Danvers,” Lena giggled back at her and kissed her on the lips.

“They only turn for you,” she admitted with a goofy smile when she got kissed and the sun started to rise above the horizon, and she felt the warmth of its rays on her skin. 

“And it’s that way with words that will one day win you a Pulitzer that you can rub in Clark’s face,” the raven-haired woman laughed and hugged her tightly as the sun rose and bathed them both in its warmth and glow.

As the sun rose, she felt Lena’s calm breathing and listened to the amazing woman’s strong and steady heartbeat. This was all she would ever need, to be here with the woman she loved and without a care in the world. No dueling identities, no article deadlines, unresolved issues with Kal-El or doubts about her place in the world. At this moment, she was truly at peace and it was in large part thanks to the one and only Lena Luthor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter... the girls finally read what the Book of Oa has to say and it's not good


	14. The Book of Oa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Book of Oa reveals the past and the future to Lena and Kara
> 
> Lena pays Lex another visit and tries to reach him again by using the violet light of love and compassion
> 
> Kara has a talk with her mom's A.I. and introduces her to Lena

Lena glanced at Kara as they sat opposite each other by the low table in their tent and between them was the Book of Oa. The massive tome lay open between them but whenever they had tried to read it the text on the page would rearrange itself, vanish or the book would simply turn itself to the next page again filled with ever-shifting gibberish. So, they’d been trying to attune themselves to the book each in their own way and so far without much success. Now, attempting something different she was focusing all her willpower on the book to try to attune with it by sheer force of will, while Kara was doing a form Kryptonian meditation to center herself with her eyes closed and her legs in the lotus position. It was about half an hour into their most recent attempt when Kara cracked an eye open and looked at her with a frown.

“Anything happening for you?” the blonde asked and looked down at the book as the letters shifted again.

“No, and I’m getting that migraine again,” she admitted and pinched the bridge of her nose with a groan.

“You should tell those little blue space grandpas of yours that it would be great if this thing came with a user’s manual,” Kara grumbled and turned the page only to reveal that the next two pages were blank and then the book turned the pages back to where they'd been.

“I’d settle for consistency at this point. Back at the lab, we could barely close the damn thing and now it won’t make any sense. All it's doing now is getting on my nerves,” she said and resisted the urge to tap into the Starheart again for a closer look. Because like she’d learned last time, there was something dark inside that book.

“It is meant to hold pretty much the sum total of the Guardians’ knowledge and then some. So, as stuck-up as those blue guys can be, that is something you don’t just leave laying around for casual browsing,” the blonde conceded and turned another page. This time there was a flash of green light as the letters flew up into the air and exploded into sparks as the Kryptonian yelped in surprise.

“Well that was new, and careful there Zor-El your Kryptonian prejudices are showing again,” she observed the sparks of green light and then teased the Kryptonian who in turn poked her tongue out at her. 

“On Krypton knowledge was never hidden or obscured,” Kara countered and ran her finger down the now blank page before pulling back with another yelp when the book zapped her with a green spark. 

“And if this thing was a computer I could just hack it,” she admitted taking Kara’s hand gently and kissing the injured finger, granted it was the blonde’s pride that had been injured more than her finger, but any excuse to kiss Kara Zor-El she would happily take.

Deciding that after several fruitless hours of staring at the Book of Oa, which had included but not been limited too; poking it, trying to use ultraviolet light on it and in a moment of madness even asking it nicely to show them something before attempting some in her words new age shit. It was time for a little break so she took Kara’s finger between her lips and gently sucked on it.

“Uhhh Lena… we are kinda… working...” Kara tried to speak but the blonde hero sometimes did lose her focus, especially when she was being teased.

“All work and no play makes Lena a dull girl,” she said pulling back with a grin and leaned over the book with the full intent of kissing the girl into submission.

“It’s exactly that sort of silly stuff you say that makes me love you even more,” the blonde laughed with her sapphire blue eyes dancing with joy and accepted the kiss. 

Leaning over the low table between them while holding Kara’s hand wasn’t the best way to start a makeout session, but she tried her best. Then, as she was about to push her tongue into Kara’s warm mouth, however, she lost her balance and upon trying to regain it ended up pressing both their hands onto the blank pages of the Book of Oa.

“Mmff Lena... “ Kara mumbled into the kiss as she set about her short-term goal of ravaging the blonde Kryptonian.

“Mmm Kara,” she moaned back into the kiss, then to her surprise Kara pulled back and to her knowledge Kara Danvers Zor-El had never pulled back from a makeout session in progress before.

“No Lena look! The book, it’s glowing!” the blonde exclaimed and they both looked down at the book with their hands pressed together on top of it before then clumsily butting heads in their excitement. 

“Da Vinci’s Beard!” she cursed rubbing her forehead and with the makeout sessions forgotten started trying to decipher the letters that had appeared on the page and for once didn’t swirl when she tried to read them.

“What language is that? Looks like glyphs, no runes, maybe some form of pictorial script,” Kara spoke her thoughts out loud as they tried to analyze what they were seeing.

“Ringy? Sorry, Ring can you analyze?” she asked her power ring which flared to life as Kara giggled despite the serious look on the blonde’s face.

“Book of Oa, hazard level high, please return to Oa, immediately,” the ring droned and she sighed, so much for that idea.

“Gee thanks,” she sardonically grumbled as Kara was running her fingers all over the symbols which appeared to be floating about an inch of the page of the book now. Those inquisitive blue eyes darting from line to line and the blonde was muttering in superspeed Kryptonian. 

“You’re welcome Green Lantern of Sector 2814,” the ring replied sounding almost cheerful. 

“Rao! Lena, look! this is the crest of the House of El!” Kara exclaimed looking up at her wide-eyed, and then as if by speaking those words caused it to be, a green glowing crest of El rose up in front of them.

“Why are you, or well, the House of El in the Book of Oa?” she asked out loud and again the book responded as a Green Lantern symbol arose from its pages and joined with the crest.

“I'm not sure, but I think… I think we need to talk to my mom…” Kara stammered and then two symbols started bleeding with black ooze before sinking back into the pages of the book. 

“Oh that’s not good,” she observed dryly, but before she could ask Kara what she meant about talking to her mother, the book drew her back in as she slowly started to make sense of the words. It wasn't so much that she was understanding them, but rather that they were responding to her will. 

Scanning the pages the book told her of how the darkness had awoken from it's eons of slumber when the Starheart had been let loose into the universe following Sinestro’s attack on her predecessor who had been transporting it for safekeeping during the war between the two Lantern Corps. Upon the Starheart's emergence into the world once again, the darkness had sent out probes to find it and destroy before it could find a new vessel. That vessel, of course, being her and those probes had been the black ooze the Institution had been using. The book revealed to her that the Institution had been a run of the mill wannabe anti-alien group with delusions of grandeur realized through the power the black ooze granted them. That explained why they had found no record of them because they had been nobodies and it also explained their often erratic behavior. Since brainwashed or mind-controlled people rarely did things in a rational manner but Tesla's Coils this was perfect, now to find where this darkness was located so she could fly there and burn it to a crisp, she thought with a smirk. 

“Lena, stop reading now!” Kara called out pulling her away from the book just as the words she'd been reading started swirling upwards from the tome, like an ever-expanding tornado of green letters. 

The maelstrom of letters quickly turned into a column of black and green energy that shot up out of the open book and it swirled and hissed around them blowing things around their tent. It was like something was trying to break free of the pages of the book and enter reality, or at least that was her current working theory. 

“Take my hands!” she shouted over the din as she allowed the Starheart to flare to life within her chest. Once again her vision turned to shades of green and flames danced in her eyes as she grabbed Kara’s hands.

“What do you need me to do? Kara shouted back over the roar of the maelstrom that had appeared in their tent as the swirling energies spinning above the book started shaking not only the tent but also the ground they sat on..

“Focus on the book, pour every ounce of willpower you’ve got into it and I’ll do the rest, understand?” she explained urgently and the blonde nodded fixing her determined blue eyes on the book.

Here goes nothing, she thought because it was a long shot and she knew it as she let the emerald flames of the Starheat envelope them both and she could feel the force of Kara’s will pouring into the book. It made her recoil slightly because both the sheer amount of willpower that Kara was exerting was overwhelming and the swirling mass of energy erupting out of the Book of Oa felt like it was trying to pull her mind into it. Feeling Kara squeeze her hands as they held their arms together over the book with a maelstrom of energies swirling between them, she found her inner strength and hurled her willpower at the book. 

“I am Lena Kieran Luthor, I am the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and you will yield to me!” she spoke firmly with all the conviction she could muster and treated the book like it was her power ring.

But, the Book of Oa fought her, it lashed out at her with images of darkness that filled her mind, but she fought back against it. Was this some form of a security system, she tried to think before another wave of darkness assaulted her senses and like last time threatened to drag her down into that black pit that seemed to reside at the heart of the book. Worse yet, was that the darkness was speaking to her and telling her things that had been and would one day come to be. Grinding her teeth and growling in frustration she was about to pull back but then she heard it, that commanding voice speaking with conviction and authority in lyrical Kryptonian.

“I am Kara Zor-El, I am the Last Daughter of Krypton, I was the Red Lantern of Sector 2814 and you will yield to us!” Kara spoke strongly and clearly and with her sapphire blue eyes glowing reddish-orange.

Feeling the shift in Kara’s emotions, she realized that the blonde wasn’t focusing her willpower on the book anymore, but instead, it was all her rage and anger and it was like an endless reservoir of rage resisted within the blonde Kryptonian. Her beloved Kara had told her that those feelings never went away and that she’d learned to deal with them better these days but now those emotions were being unleashed. This she could work with, that rage could be harnessed and focused with enough willpower which was something she had in spades.

The book rattled on the table between them as the maelstrom receded back into its pages and the letters that had been swirling above it started falling back down its pages, forming words again. Squeezing Kara’s hands as the malicious maelstrom that had been spewing out of the book died down and pressing on with blood running out of her nose and down her lips she made the tome reveal its secrets to them.

“Wow!” she gasped when she opened her eyes that she didn’t realize she’d closed and now green and red letters danced on the pages of the tome before them.

“Rao!” Kara gasped in agreement and when they started reading the words they came to life as the tale being told on the book's pages played out through brilliant emerald and ruby constructs.

The tale that was being played before their eyes out told of how eons ago the darkness had risen up in the shape of a man, towering and terrifying and the book shook almost like the darkness that was being made manifest in those moving images was real. But, then when all appeared lost a Green Lantern and a member of the House of El had come together to fight the darkness. Much like they had done and blurry images of the two beings appeared before them. Brought to life in brilliant hues red was what looked like the spitting image of Kara dressed in ancient Kryptonian clothing and next to her appeared the emerald figure of the Green Lantern but it was so blurred that she could barely make out its features. The duo had come together, fought the darkness and there had been love between them as well. The two figures embraced and kissed before turning to fight the outcoming waves of darkness' minions clawing and hissing at them. They witnessed how their ancient counterparts had fought and defeated the darkness near an exploding star and then entombed it near the galactic core of the Milky Way. Yet the battle wasn’t without loss and the story ended with the image of the Green Lantern holding the fallen body its Kryptonian lover and with a pained roar from beyond time and space the Book of Oa slammed itself shut.

“Tesla’s coils,” she whispered as she watched the battle between the ancient duo and the darkness play out before she jumped when the book slammed shut.

“She died... “ Kara whispered and put her hand on the book. “Is this why my people so distrusted the Guardians?” she asked not expecting an answer and looked at her with blue eyes glistening with tears because it had all felt so real.

“I don’t know, but this explains why it keeps coming for us... it sees us as I guess, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, reincarnations of those who defeated it in the past,” she concluded with her head still swimming from the vision they’d been shown. 

“It doesn't sound so farfetched to me, but did you see it, the darkness in the book?” Kara asked her to which she could only nod and put her hand over the blonde’s on top of the cover of the now-closed tome.

“I think the book acts as a portal through space and time and it’s linked to the darkness, the light of creation and everything else. It all flows through it somehow. I also get the feeling that it's ancient and older than the guardians and there I go all being all metaphysical again,” she babbled, then laughed a nervous little laugh and squeezed Kara’s hand because that image of the fallen ancient Kryptonian haunted her.

“Hey I know that look, I’m not that woman in the story so don’t worry I’m not dying anytime soon okay,” the blonde reassured her with a sympathetic smile. 

“I know and I won’t let anyone hurt you ever, but this darkness is coming for us because the light is growing stronger,” she said as she tried to explain what she’d seen in that dark bottomless pit the book hard projected into her mind and it was like the words coming out of her mouth weren’t hers, but rather the book’s visions speaking through her. But, being a scientist she didn’t put much stock in prophecy or destiny, how did you measure destiny or verify prophecy?

“Are you saying that we are the light? Because Lena no offense you're the least spiritual person I know, are you sure you're alright? Kara asked a bit unconvinced as the woman’s modesty wouldn’t allow her such a grand title even if she was the light of her world.

“I don’t know, my head is full of images and words right now and none of it makes sense and I know I’m sounding like some sort of soothsayer with a crystal ball at a county fair,” she grumbled and Kara leaned over kissing her on the forehead.

“First of all, don’t you dare diss county fairs, but I didn't see anything like what described so let me check you over,” the blonde insisted, narrowing her eyes and scanning her with her enhanced senses to make sure she was alright. The woman would be the world’s biggest helicopter parent one day she was sure of that. 

“Kara, I saw him, I saw Lex…” she gasped as she shifted through the myriad of images that book had shown her while feeling the slight tingle of X-ray vision against her skin. 

“Maybe you did, but that thing could also have been messing with you to keep you out. Now what’s the square root of one hundred and sixty-nine?” the blonde asked with a smile.

“Oh please it’s thirteen and I’m fine, really Kara I’m fine I just need…” she couldn’t finish her sentence the book shook again along with their tent and the ground beneath them.

Kara moved faster than she could register and she found herself behind the blonde being shielded from the Book of Oa as it opened up again and above it appeared in black bleeding letters a warning that read: It is coming! 

“Well shit!” they both cursed and the book slammed itself shut again.

* * *

Once they returned from their little vacation in the desert Lena couldn’t shake two of things she'd seen from her head. The Book of Oa had shown her and Kara an ancient Green Lantern holding a fallen Kryptonian and she knew that one day that might be her holding Kara. The second thing, however, made her do something slightly rash, she reached out to Lex again. For the book had also shown her Lex wrapped up in the darkness’s tendrils and if true it went a long way to explain what had happened to her brother. 

Plus, Metropolis wasn’t that far away, especially if you could fly under your own power and so she’d messaged Kara that she’d be late for dinner before she took off. Checking in with Hailey, the girl she'd saved she'd found out that her brother hadn't been deployed yet, but that they were keeping in touch. Meeting the young girl again helped lift her spirits before heading to the Metropolis State Prison where she requested to see Lex again and had even broken out her do you know who I am speech to get in.

Now she sat behind the two inches of bulletproof glass again and waited for her big brother to be escorted into the room on the other side. After waiting a long while he arrived flanked by guards but he looked nothing like he'd done a few days ago. Lex looked tired, his usually clean-shaven head was sporting a short stubble, his orange jumpsuit was crumbled and his green eyes had dark circles underneath them. The guard had warned her about this but seeing it was still a shock, picking up the phone that hung by her side she smiled at him and put her hand against the glass waiting for him to pick up.

“What do you want Lena?” he asked his voicing sounding weary and lacking almost all of its usual bravado.

“I said I’d be back,” she said and lowered her hand again reminding herself that this wasn’t the brother she once knew as much as she hoped for him to magically be. 

“I apologize in advance, but I’m not feeling overly talkative today, I’ve been… struggling since our last visit,” he admitted running a chained hand over his stubbled head.

“Good then you can listen, you used to be good at that remember?” she asked her tired-looking brother who to her surprise nodded at her in a rare sign of defeat.

“Don’t get mad, but I’ve been looking into what happened to you,” she lied because Lex couldn’t know where she got this information from because it would undoubtedly set him off again. 

“What happened to me?” he asked with an offended look on his stern features and she could sense another rant coming on, he puffed himself up but then deflated again almost like he didn’t seem to have the energy to launch into one of his rants today.

“You were a good man Lex, I’m only trying… to figure out what happened,” she said pausing slightly as an idea came to her about how she could potentially break through to him.

“He happened,” her brother growled and pointed to the sky, his eyes flashing with anger but he was obviously too worn out from what the guard had told here had been several days of him rambling in his cell. 

“I don’t think that’s it, you’re a Luthor, we don’t..” she started but he cut her off by leaning against the glass with the guards behind him reaching for their weapons, but with a quick shake of her head she managed to make them step down.

“We don't what Lena? I’ll tell you what we don’t do, we don’t put on some random piece of jewelry that is offered to us,” he whispered and looked her square in the eyes before glancing at her bare ring finger then back up at her with a look that spoke volumes about what her oh so clever big brother had figured out about her. Lex knew she was a Lantern, but she wasn't going to let that phase her, in fact, she could use it.

“At least I’m a force for good, what have you done?” she demanded of him not giving him the satisfaction of being surprised that he’d figured out her secret but instead thought that it was time to subject him to a bit of his own monologuing medicine. 

“I don’t want to hear the speeches again Lex,” she cut him off before he could answer and launched into what she’d wanted to tell him for almost ten years.

“You wasted time and resources fighting someone whose only crime was to be your friend, you dragged our name through the mud and for what? A six by six jail cell and a fancy orange jumpsuit?” she asked and threw all the willpower she had behind her words.

“You are Lex Luthor, the smartest man of your age, we were going to build spaceships together Lex! Explore the stars, you and me, don’t you remember?” she asked him and felt something pulse inside her heart. Even though she might not have been wearing her ring and was keeping the Starheart dormant inside her it didn’t mean she was without power.

When she’d first been on Oa, Ganthet had taught her about the spectrum of emotions and even though the green light of will and the red light of rage were the ones she was most familiar with, there were other lights in the universe besides those. Like the violet light of love and compassion for example which she was hoping to tap into to aid her in the quest to reach her brother. It was a gamble and based on a hunch, the Book of Oa had responded to her and Kara's love and maybe love could dispell the darkness around Lex's heart.

“We talked about how you and I were going to go out there and bring humanity into an amazing new future among the stars, and you threw it away Lex part because of your prideful hubris but I don’t think that was the only reason you turned to the darkness. Why did you do it Lex? If was jealousy I don't believe it because you weren't that petty so tell me why?” she pleaded with him passionately and tried to push against Lex’s heart with all the love she once had for him.

“I… did..." he started to repeat his usual line about how it was because of Superman betraying him, but then something in him broke and his eyes softened

Lena?” he asked her with his eyes glowing with a faint violet light she used the combined lights of her willpower and love to pierce the darkness inside her brother’s heart.

“Hi Lex,” she said with a smile and a relieved little laugh upon seeing for the first time in ages the man she once knew. 

“I… what’s happening Lena?” he asked looking at his hands in chains and then back at her with a slow horrifying realization dawning on his face.

“I promise I'll explain everything, but I don’t have much time Lex. You need to know that something is coming and I think it wants to kill someone I love,” she spoke fast into the phone and her brother nodded.

“I wish I could help, but I’m of little use to you I’m afraid,” he said sadly and she knew wouldn’t be able to maintain her focus for long, because using both the green light of willpower and the violet light at the same time was proving to be extremely taxing.

“I know, but I wanted to see you and tell you that I love you, big brother,” she said softly and he smiled at her. 

“Lena… I’m scared,” he admitted and put his hand against the glass clumsily while also holding the phone to his cheek.

“Don’t be, we’ll get through this,” she promised him and pressed her hand against his through the glass. 

“How… how are you doing this? No, don’t tell me if I don’t know how I can’t tell anyone… Lena tell him that I’m sorry and tell that Kara girl that she is to take good care of you and…” he tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come as she felt the strain of chasing the darkness away from him becoming too much for her and with sadness she let go of her hold on the violet light.

“I will... rest now big brother,” she told him and stopped pushing against the darkness in his heart causing him to slump forward against the glass as the guards rushed in to check on him.

Watching them carry him away, she allowed herself to be escorted out of the prison without a word and once on the street, she took a huge breath of fresh air. First, she smiled because Lex had been back if only for a moment and then her face hardened because her terrible theory had been proven correct. The darkness or whatever it was, had gotten to Lex years ago. Twisted him into a tool to throw against Superman and Earth and it had broken her brother’s mind. If it was indeed coming like the Book of Oa had promised, then she’d fight it now with all her might and she’d burn it in her righteous fire, both to keep Kara safe and for what it had done to her brother.

* * *

While Lena made the trip back to National City, Kara was busy in their home lab as she waited for the raven-haired CEO to return from her quick trip to Metropolis. Since their return from the desert, she’d been busy moving the holographic projector for the A.I. of her mother from the DEO to their home lab. They had questions she hoped her mother’s memories could answer. Hooking it up to the buildings power supply had been tricky as it hadn’t been designed for it so she’d enlisted Alex and by proxy, Jess to help her out while Lena was on her impromptu trip to see her brother. A bribe of pizza and beer had ensured their timely arrival and now Alex was laying underneath the projector grumbling while she held it up as Jess watched them both with barely concealed amusement.

“Why am I do this again? I’m a doctor, not an electrician!” her sister asked from the floor, poking her head from underneath the projector. 

“Well, that means that you have those nimble doctor fingers and do you want to hold this thing up?” she asked her sister back with a grin as she held the bulky projector of the floor with one hand.

“She has a point, more wiring less bitching and moaning dear,” Jess laughed taking her side which only made Alex grumble more.

“Etu Jess?” Alex asked mournfully before slipping back under the A.I.’s project like a car mechanic and fiddling with some wires. 

Hearing the balcony doors open and close thus signaling Lena’s arrival back from Metropolis she frowned as she heard her beloved’s elevated heartbeat before the raven-haired woman took a few calming breaths to make herself presentable. Lena then came walking into the lab wearing her Green Lantern uniform and hugging Jess before kissing her on the cheek as she noticed a new addition to the black and green of Lena’s Green Lantern uniform. 

“You okay?” she whispered when Lena kissed her cheek and the raven-haired woman gave a sad nod but then flashed a little smile she kept reserved only for her.

“I’m fine, just a rough trip I'll tell you about it later,” the raven-haired CEO asked clearly and even desperately wanting to change the subject.

Wanting to ask Lena what was wrong but tabling that thought at the woman's request for now as she felt a goofy smile spread across her lips and she grabbed onto the holographic projector with both hands just in case she dropped it because Lena was actually and for realsies wearing it! As part of their ceremonial trip to the desert, she’d given the raven-haired beauty two things, one had been a Kryptonian dress to wear and the second gift had been a short white cape with a House of El crest on it and golly gee the stubborn woman was wearing it openly. 

"You wear it well," she said trying her hardest not to squeal with delight because getting Lena to accept the gift had been hard enough, so there was no need to spook her by going full Danvers over her wearing it.

“You like it?” Lena asked with a grateful little smile, appearing thankful for not having to deal with what happened in Metropolis right now and for her restraint. 

“Like what? Oh nice cape Lena, I think I got it wired up now so let’s try to fire it up,” Alex declared before she could answer as her sister grunted and got to her feet giving Lena a nod of acknowledgment.

“Alex,” Lena greeted her sister and there was a brief pause before the raven-haired woman stepped forward giving the agent a hug much like she’d hugged Jess on her arrival.

“Oh we’re doing that now?” her sister asked sounding both confused and amused as Lena was seemingly feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable simply nodded as Alex patted her back.

“Had a rough trip, I’ll tell you guys about it later,” Lena explained and she felt like she was about to burst with pride because here was miss badass CEO Lena Luthor actually opening up to people.

“Hey we’re here for you, I'm really digging the cape,” her sister said as sweetly as she could sound and in return, Lena did a little twirl showing of the white cape.

“Thanks Kara, got me it but I’m just testing driving though,” the raven-haired hero laughed and threw her a pointed look.

“So why exactly did you get her a cape?” Jess asked her as the former assistant wrapped her arm around Alex’s waist and rested her head on the agent's shoulder. 

“Cape envy she's got it bad, no it's a Kryptonian custom,” she said before quickly explaining the reason behind the gift when Lena elbowed her in the ribs gently. 

“So I’m meeting your mom?” Lena asked her while she adjusted the setting on the project getting momentarily distracted when Lena peeled off her mask and exposed those amazing kryptonite green eyes. 

“In a way, it’s an A.I. that uses her memories and I’m curious about something the book of Oa showed us,” she nodded and after adjusting for the power inputs a holographic image of her mother flickered to life.

“Hello Kara,” her mother spoke and she gave a faint smile. Not using this device much since Astra’s death had been her choice, but it seeing her mother again felt somewhat bittersweet. 

“Hello mom, this is Lena,” she introduced her beloved and Lena looked slightly nervous even though it was only a hologram.

“I greet you Green Lantern,” her mother said unmoving and Lena fiddled with her mask. 

“She’s my beloved and I’m her suitor,” she added and the hologram smiled at them. 

“It is good that you found companionship on Earth, and I’m happy for you,” it said and part of wished that her mother didn’t sound so robotic.

“Not the biggest talker is she?” Jess observed and was shushed by Alex.

“Mom, I need to ask you something, a long time ago was there ever a woman from our House that fell in love with a Green Lantern, who fought in a great battle?” she asked feeling almost like a little girl asking for a bedtime story.

"Lora Zor-El, also known as the Hammer of Rao, one of your distant ancestors died fighting a great darkness alone when the Green Lanterns failed to come to her aid,” the hologram of her mother said looking straight at Lena.

“No… no that’s not what happened, the Book of Oa showed us that they fought together,” she insisted and felt Lena’s hand take hers.

“The Guardians in their cowardice withdrew to Oa, only Lora Zor-El stood and fell against the darkness, and it was the birth of the eons of animosity between Krypton and the Guardians,” her mother’s hologram replied.

"No it can't be true, they loved each other," she protested and something about the tale the book had shown them had touched her deeply which made her mother's words hurt all the more. 

“Kara, she can only tell us what she knew in life, you’re not going to change her mind,” Lena whispered into her ear reassuringly and squeezed her hand.

“You are correct Green Lantern Lena, I'm sorry Kara but this is what this program knows,” her mother’s hologram agreed having heard Lena’s whisper.

“Mom… I wish you could meet Lena,” she said, gazing up at the visage of her mother and the hologram smiled.

“Kara, my child I always wished nothing but joy and happiness for you and if this woman gives you that then I can only say that I would have been very happy for you,” the hologram said and she felt herself starting to cry. 

“Hey now, no need for tears, come here beloved,” Lena said switching from English to Kryptonian and hugging her, then Alex joined in and finally Jess. All three of them showering her in love and affection.

“I should be hugging you,” she whimpered when she wrapped arms around Lena knowing that she wasn’t the only one dealing with feelings of family loss in the room right now.

“Don’t be silly, I’m always here for you,” Lena said softly in Kryptonian and for a moment she could have sworn the hologram of her mother smiled at them. 

“I’m always here if you need to ask me a question,” the hologram said and she fumbled for the controls to turn it off, unable to deal with the memories for much longer and watched it flicker out of existence.

“Ice cream?” Alex asked smiling at her and being an all-around awesome big sister.

“With sprinkles?” Jess then suggested and she started smiling just a little bit.

“And some of that alien scotch we have? Because I could use some alcohol after today,” Lena finished and smiling through her tears she nodded her head.

Cuddling up against Lena on their couch she happily munched on her gigantic bowl of ice-cream as Lena who had changed out of her uniform stroked her hair lovingly. Alex was feeding Jess spoonfuls of ice cream on the couch opposite them and a Disney movie was playing on the TV. And again she no longer felt like the last one of her kind because she was with family, her weird and wonderful family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still moving houses but wanted to get this out for you guys to enjoy!


	15. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena meets with J'onn for a long-overdue talk and has a request to make of the Martian 
> 
> Kara spars with Cassandra and remembers lessons taught to her by Astra a long time ago on Krypton
> 
> There is a dinner party, as the pair gather their extended family to fulfill another of the Kryptonian customs on route to their marriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another one of my written on and off planes while also suffering from jetlag chapters, but please enjoy!

Kara would have called this supremely awkward and she was tempted to call it hell on Earth, but still, there she was in a nondescript alien bar somewhere in National City sitting in a booth across from Hank Henshaw also known as J’onn J'onzz or if you were being fancy the Martian Manhunter. They’d agreed to meet for a long-overdue talk though neither of them thought it was a talk they needed to have. Still, she also had an ulterior motive for meeting the Martian telepath away from prying eyes.

“So…” she said slowly after taking a sip from what she hoped was scotch and at least it tasted close enough to scotch and warmed her up inside as it went down.

“Eliza and Alex both insisted I have this talk with you, why I’m not entirely sure,” J’onn admitted and at least he was feeling as awkward as she did.

“I think you’re supposed to put the fear of God, Rao or H'ronmeer in me,” she laughed and the man that both Kara and Alex viewed as their father figure smiled at her.

“You know of the Martian deities then?” he asked curiously and leaned forward with his arms on the table.

“Only what I could learn from Kara’s Kryptonian archives, he was the God of Death and Fire, but also considered the God of Light and Life, am I correct?” she asked and fiddled with her power-ring.

“H'ronmeer was always a point of contention amongst Martian scholars, but you are correct,” he said, and she felt herself smiling slightly. 

Lionel had been a unique father figure, to say the least, and later Lex had somewhat filled that role in her life again in a distinctly Luthor-way. But she’d always been not exactly jealous of the relationship Kara shared with her Martian space-dad rather it had made her feel a pang of sadness since she no longer had that kind of person in her life. And by Newton’s Third Law this being in touch with your feelings thing she’d been doing more of lately was proving to be slightly exhausting at times. 

“Maybe you should read me the speech Alex no doubt gave you and get that part over with?” she asked now that ice had been broken and the silenced had lingered between them a bit longer than could be considered polite.

“Oh right, want me to give you the cliff notes or read the whole thing?” he asked and actually pulled two pieces of paper covered on both sides with what looked like Alex Danvers’ handwriting out of his jacket as she was barely able to contain the laugh that threatened to bubble up out of her chest. 

“Cliff notes will do just fine, I’ll make sure to tell Kara that you read me the riot act and she’ll report back to Alex,” she said with a smirk but still a little laugh slipped through, but J’onn was gracious enough to ignore it as his face turned serious.

“Very well, let me see here. Oh yes, don’t ever hurt her, treat her good, no treat her like a princess and if you even do hurt her, remember that I can read minds and phase through solid objects so no one will ever find you again if I don’t want them to. You know, after reading this I think I should have a talk with Alex,” he ran down the basics of the speech Alex had given him flipping over the pages and scanning them at a glance.

“She cares for Kara deeply and I think she was just trying to scare me but she knows I’d never hurt Kara,” she said and smiled at the man who she’d honestly not spent much time with aside from in her capacity as Green Lantern or L-Corp’s CEO, but what Kara had told her had painted him as a quiet and compassionate man.

“I know you’ll never hurt her Lena,” he said tapping two fingers against his temple with a smirk of his own and her eyes widened slightly in mock shock.

“To Kara?” she asked holding up her tumbler of scotch with a raised eyebrow since she didn’t quite know what she was supposed to do next.

“To you and Kara,” he said and clinked his glass against hers and they both took a sip as silence descended between them again.

“Can... can I ask you something?” she asked feeling a bit nervous now, but something had been gnawing at her since her discovery about how the darkness had influenced Lex all those years ago.

“What is it?” he asked back becoming concerned as his eyes grew softer and maybe he was sensing her discomfort.

“Could you check something for me, in my mind that is?” she asked feeling a little bit silly for asking this. After all, she really wasn’t in any sort of position to be asking it in the first place and if being a CEO had taught her one thing it was to always negotiate from a position of strength.

“I’m going to need a bit more of an explanation before I do something like that, what are you worried about?” he asked, and she could see why Kara and Alex had adopted them in their weird Danversy way.

“I recently discovered that my brother’s descent into madness years ago, might have been caused by the influence of whatever this darkness is that we’ve been encountering,” she said in a hushed voice and the words tumbled out as she launched into her explanation for why she was asking her future space-dad-in-law such a thing.

“And you’re worried that that same darkness might be in you,” he stated, and she could only nod her head.

“I need to know, Kara says she doesn’t see anything in me, but… I don’t want to end up like Lex and I know I have no right to ask you this, but I need to know. If there is even the possibility that I could turn out like Lex, well I couldn’t put that on Kara,” she admitted and let out a heavy sigh.

“If it will put your mind at ease, then I’ll do,” he said after taking a moment to process what she’d blurted out at him, and she gave a grateful nod waiting for him to do it.

It wasn’t what she’d expected, in her mind, she’d pictured it more like a Vulcan mind-meld or maybe hearing his voice in her head. But he only seemed to study her for a moment, then his eyes turned red as he looked into her eyes and she felt what was almost like a tickle in the back of her head. Pushing back against the tickle with her mind she noticed how his Martian eyes grew slightly wider as he smiled approvingly, and she shrugged not sure what she’d done. The tickle in her mind then faded as the Martian took a breath before speaking and letting his eyes return to their human appearance.

“Lena, your mind is incredibly strong for a human, maybe one of the strongest I’ve ever encountered. But when I look into your mind, I sense nothing but hope and light, trust me when I say that you are nothing like your brother,” he said firmly to her before taking a sip from his drink.

“That was you? That tickle in the back of my head?” she asked, and he nodded calmly putting his glass down again.

“But, how can you be so sure?” she then pressed him for more answers, hoping she wasn’t stepping over some boundary.

“I don’t need telepathy to be sure, because when the Daxamites came, you stepped up and helped. When you got the Green Lantern ring, you chose to become a hero. When Kara was injured by Sinestro and consumed by rage, you didn’t kill him even when you had him at your mercy,” he listed off a few of the things she’d done, and she felt proud hearing it.

“You give me too much credit, that was just doing the right thing and Lex believed that he was doing the right thing too,” she argued not willing to let this go yet despite the swelling of pride in her chest.

“Then you continue to do the right thing and trust in your friends to tell you if you stray,” he told her and there was that feeling again, the feeling of having a family you could truly rely on. 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked raising an eyebrow with some more of that old Luthor skepticism showing.

“Kara thinks the world of you, Alex grudgingly respects you and Winn thinks you’re awesome, his words, not mine,” he explained to her with a laugh.

“And you, what do you think?” she asked and could almost hear her mother’s voice chastising her for asking too many questions.

“I think you are among the best of your species, I was there when you fought Sinestro remember, bruised and battered, but there,” he reminded her and winced slightly at the memory of the beatdown he’d endured at the hands of Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns.

“I remember and I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner,” she apologized as the sight of the Martian’s bruised and battered body draped over the L-Corp logo was something that still haunted her to this day.

“Don’t be sorry, we won the day, but you suppressed who you wanted to be for so long, so if I can ask you to be one thing for Kara, it is that you be yourself,” he said and she could only nod at him like a dork.

“You coming to the dinner party, sorry, the family feast?” she asked out of the blue remembering the dinner party Kara had been busy planning and the Martian nodded. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said, and they spent the remainder of their little met-up discussing Martian theology and how sometimes dealing with Kara the super-puppy was the biggest headache in the world.

* * *

Back at the Danvers-Luthor, residence Kara grunted when her back hit the mats lining the floor of the gym they had with a loud thud as Cassandra ‘Batgirl’ Cain stood over her with a wide grin and offering her a hand. Inviting the vigilante over to spar had sounded like such a great idea, but once they were under the gym’s red sun lamps what could only be called a high-grade ass-whooping had commenced.

“You’re good Cass, like really good,” she praised the dark-haired young woman and took the offered taped up hand.

“And you need way more practice,” the girl replied fixing her ponytail and assumed her stance ready for the next round.

“Alex keeps saying that too,” she agreed and assumed a kick-boxing stance as she bounced on the balls of her feet. 

They traded blows and feints with her wearing her usual workout gear of black shorts and a sports bra with her hands taped up as well and her hair in one long braid down her back. Cassandra wore a loose top and a pair of sweatpants and both of them had chosen to go barefoot on the mat strewn floor of her home gym.

“You’re not using your speed, remember that even under these lamps you’re quite fast,” Cassandra reminded her and threw a punch at her head which she managed to dodge but then felt her legs being swept from underneath her again.

“Ugh!” she grunted as she reunited with her close personal friend the floor once again at it drove the air from her lungs.

“Didn’t they have martial arts on Krypton?” the girl asked hauling her from the floor yet again and she smiled her thanks for the help.

“Some, but contact sports were often frowned upon,” she explained and stubbornly assumed her fighting stance again to which Cassandra approvingly nodded.

“You’re stubborn I’ll give you that, and did you ever learn any of it?” Cassandra asked her while taking what looked like a drunken master stance from one of those old Kung Fu movies looking very loose and relaxed.

“My aunt Astra, she taught me a few things, but I’ve never used it,” she admitted and felt that pang of sadness that always came with thinking of her aunt Astra.

“Well, what are you waiting for, show me,” the vigilante insisted eager to see a new form of martial art and cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

“Alright, but no making fun of me,” she laughed and started to recall what Astra had taught her behind her mother’s back all those years ago.

“Me? Make fun of you? when does that ever happen?” Cassandra asked with an innocent look on her face to which she just shook her head.

Closing her eyes and drawing in a deep breath she centered herself as Astra had taught her and she could hear her aunt’s voice in her head. Focus Kara, your opponent will always be moving so you must predict their patterns because never forget that your mind is your most powerful weapon. Don’t strike where they are, but where they’ll be in your mind’s eye, then opening her eyes, she nodded for Cassandra that they could begin.

It was difficult to focus at first with the memories of Astra flooding her mind, but soon she could see Cassandra’s moves before she made them, almost like a ghostly image of the girl that moved just before she did. Of course, Cassandra had her own abilities, so they ended up sparing all around the gym, exchanging near misses and barely dodged kicks while tumbling and jumping over gym equipment and truth be told making a bit of a mess.

They were both sweating from the strain of keeping up their little dance of fists and kicks but neither of them wanting to be the first to yield. Thus, it didn’t come to an end until they both threw the same punch at each other and their fists collided in midair sending them both tumbling backwards and breaking their trance. 

“What the hell was that!” Cassandra exclaimed in a rare show of excitement from the dark-haired girl who pulled out her ponytail and shook her hair loose.

“Krypton Fu, I guess, my aunt Astra called it the Way of the Mind,” she said staring down at her fists and then she smiled. It had been like Astra had been with her and guided her as she fought, and her mind was filled with joyful memories of her girlhood on Krypton now. 

“You know you’re so good at almost everything that it’s almost unfair,” the girl laughed and threw her a water bottle which she only barely caught fumbling with it a few times before getting a good grip on it.

“Well maybe not at everything,” she laughed and took a long sip from the bottle as Cassandra shook her head in disbelief almost. 

“Oh, we’re doomed! The most powerful being on Earth has the worst hand-eye coordination,” Cassandra laughed and sat down on one of the weight benches.

“I was distracted that’s all,” she defended herself and sat down facing the sweat-soaked girl. But yep Cassandra was right, she was Kara Zor-El, Supergirl, powerful, commanding and a known fumbler of water bottles!

“Sure, keep telling yourself that, but good work on getting Lena a cape,” the vigilante praised her and held a bottle of water up in salute.

“She’s test driving it, but we might have a convert to the capes club,” she said with a goofy grin as Lena had worn the cape on and off lately, depending on their missions.

Like the unrepentant dork, she was she’d started labeling them cape missions and non-cape missions. Saving a cat out of a tree was a cape mission and Lena actually doing that had earned the green-eyed woman a flurry of kisses while saving an oil tanker wasn’t a cape mission. The raven-haired CEO’s logic being that even superheroes could change outfits if they so desired and coming from the woman with a literal shoe room it made a weird sort of sense. 

“Should I get James a cape?” the girl pondered out loud tapping her chin and she couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“He’d only trip over it and how are things going with you two by the way?” she asked and drained her bottle before throwing it across the gym and into the trash with a satisfying clang.

“Slow, but good,” the girl said becoming a bit more reserved at the mention of her, not quite boyfriend.

“Superhero dating sucks, right?” she asked and smiled at her. Having Cassandra around almost made her feel like a big sister, even though she had just endured being her butt kicked for a solid hour by the girl and her and Lena had joked about adopting the girl at times.

“It’s tricky, plus I’m twenty-three and James is well, older,” the girl admitted, and it surprised her how close in age they were but here she was engaged and thinking about children. By Rao, things had changed fast, but she liked it.

“James is a good man despite his age, but I get it,” she agreed and threw the girl a towel which she caught gracefully.

“I’m also worried that one day I’ll no longer be living in National City. I mean I’ve been all over the world for the past few years and this is the longest I’ve stayed in one place since I was eighteen,” the girl said and as much as she wanted to hug the soft-spoken girl but now was not the time what with being all sweaty and sticky.

“I’m sure if things have progressed with you and James by then you two can work it out,” she tried to assure her and smiled, after all, if her and Lena could make things work there was hope for all. 

“You’re such an optimist, but thank you,” Cassandra said and got to her feet dropping tossing the towel on the bench ready for round two or was it round four? She’d lost count. 

“I choose to take that as a compliment, you guys are coming to our feast tomorrow together though, right?” she asked, and the girl nodded taking a new fighting stance and motioning for her to get ready.

“Again?” she asked and got to her feet, again centering herself like Astra had taught her and this time there wasn’t any sadness.

“Yes, because It is coming or so that weird book you keep in your lab told you, so yes again because we need to be ready,” Cassandra said firmly and launched herself across the gym at her. 

They spared until Lena came back from her meeting with J’onn and she’d never taken so much joy in combat before. It had been such fun that they’d both been laughing when Lena walked in looking at them both with a look of utter confusion painted on her face. The raven-haired woman had questions about why they were laughing so much and more importantly why her gym looked like a tornado had blown through it. They answered that they’d been doing cape stuff before they dissolved into another fit of giggles to which the raven-haired CEO had stomped off muttering something about insufferable cape-wearing superheroes.

* * *

The dinner party or as Kara insisted on calling it; The Feast, was the following day and it had been next on the list of the Kryptonian customs they needed to fulfill before they could be hitched. Kara had handled inviting people by darting around the city and across the country and it had been very important to the blonde that she’d do it in person. The suitor's duty is what the blonde had called it and she didn’t protest, instead, she allowed the endless ball of frantic energy that was Kara have her moment. 

This would be the first time they would have everyone in their extended family at their place. Alex and Jess, Cassandra and James, Winn, Eliza, J’onn and finally Clark and Lois. It felt like Lex should be with them too, but he wasn’t ready for that yet. Plus, busting your brother out of jail for a dinner party wasn’t what she’d consider heroic or legal for that matter.

“I think we’re ready,” Kara declared bursting out of the kitchen area barefoot in a beautiful blue dress with her hair down and glasses nowhere to be seen.

“Kara, breath, it will be fine,” she laughed and smoothed down her red dress that hugged her curves and which she hope Kara would peel off her later. All this suitor stuff that Kara kept talking about and doing got her going in a way she’d not expected. There was something about the blonde taking charge that was simply put, freaking hot. 

“No, this has to be perfect… sorry I’m bridezillaing right, now aren’t I?” the blonde asked blushing a little bit. 

“Maybe a little bit, these are our friends and family, they won’t care if the steak is a bit overcooked,” she assured the blonde and kiss her on the cheek leaving a red lipstick mark behind.

“The steak! The doorbell Get that please,” Kara exclaimed when the doorbell rang and zoomed into the kitchen at little below Mach One as she shrugged and answered the intercom seeing Winn on the screen. 

“Winn, come on up,” she laughed buzzing the computer wizard up when she saw him waving at the security camera in the lobby. 

Waiting by the elevator to greet her admittedly mostly online friend she smiled when the door opened and greeted him with a hug. The two of them had struck up a solid online friendship a while back and bonded over their mutual love of old video games, tinkering with purely theoretical ideas for death-rays and being cursed with family members they couldn’t discuss in polite company.

“Oh, I get hugs now?” Winn laughed and hugged her back but after their e hug, she made sure to punch him in the shoulder.

“Kara’s influence I’m afraid, it’s been a downward spiral ever since I met her,” she joked and assuming her hostess mode escorted him to the living room.

“It suits you LL,” he said and sat down eyeing their TV and the retro-game console hooked up to it.

“For the last time I’m not a rapper Winn and stop eyeing that controller and play already,” she laughed and using her power ring she summoned up a sexy green maid to hand him the controller with a wink.

“Uh sure…” he said eyeing the maid before she let it blink out of existence much to his dismay. “Come on you didn’t have to make her go away!” he whined. 

“We do need to find you a girlfriend,” she teased him and sat down next to him picking up another controller after flying it over by using a tiny green Supergirl construct.

“Not my fault and James keeps finding them all first,” he grumbled as they started pummeling each other through the video game avatars on the screen.

“You know you don’t have to date a superhero, what about that nice agent at the DEO, Vasquez?” she asked him and her schoolgirl avatar uppercutted him through the map. 

“Oh, brutal LL, and no she’s scary,” he said and tried to fight back with his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth and leaning closer to the TV.

“She’s not scary, you’re just afraid and it helps to have someone who understands this weird life of ours,” she said and finished him off with a brutal combo of attacks. 

“Maybe and common at least give me a fighting chance,” he protested when the victory screen appeared and there was a knock on the balcony doors. 

“Is that… him?” he asked his eyes going wide as she stood up to let Clark and Lois inside. 

“His name is Clark and no fanboying,” she reminded him as she let Kara’s cousin and his charming wife inside.

“Clark, Lois, so glad you could make it,” she smiled and shook Clark’s hand before giving Lois a brief hug while being keenly aware of Winn bouncing behind her.

“Winn so good to see you again,” Clark said with a smile putting the computer wizard out of his misery as he stepped forward offering his hands.

“It’s glad to finally meet you,” she said to Lois who smiled and let herself be escorted to the well-stocked bar she kept by the back wall of the living room.

“Likewise, Clark’s told me so much about you,” the reporter said, and she could see why Lex had been so infatuated with the woman in the past. Dark hair, almost violet eyes, and the reporter seemed to ooze confidence.

“Everything good I hope,” she chuckled and held up a bottle of chilled white wine to which the woman nodded.

“Eventually, once he got past his prejudices,” the reporter said truthfully and accepted the glass she held out for her. All these reporters around her had such ways with words, but she knew exactly what those prejudices of Clark’s had been. 

“I understand that. I really do and I don’t know if it matters but I think that Lex truly wants him to know that he is sorry,” she said and glanced in the direction of Clark and Winn as her friend tried to teach the farm boy how to play Street Fighter.

Lex had asked her to tell Superman that he was sorry after she’d reached through to him during her last visit to see him, but it had felt too awkward to go to Clark in person. So, she’d done the cowardly thing and told Kara who in turn had relayed the message to her cousin. 

“It meant a lot to him to hear that. What Lex did… a part of him never believed that it was something that the man he once knew would be capable of,” Lois said with a shutter, reliving some unpleasant memories regarding her brother which made her worry that redeeming Lex might be near impossible even if he'd not been fully himself in those days.

“So, what tips do you have for me about marrying a Kryptonian,” she asked changing the subject because Kara wouldn’t want this party to start on a downer.

“Keep a full fridge, make them change outside after fighting fires and when they feel down remind them that they did their very best,” the reporter replied and held up her glass.

“Here’s to living with Kryptonians,” she declared and clinked her glass against Lois’ and they both shared a laugh

“It feels good to finally talk to someone who understands, you know?” the reporter then asked, and she could only nod. 

Lois Lane was different than what she'd expected, the woman was ballsy and outspoken that much she knew based on reputation alone but up close there was a friendliness born of a mutual understanding to the reporter that she felt drawn too. They were after all the only two women on the planet that truly understood what it meant to be in love with and live with a Super. Another chime from the doorbell sadly cut her conversation with Lois short as she could hear Kara cursing loudly in Kryptonian from the kitchen.

Alex, Jess, J’onn and Eliza all looked up at the camera and she buzzed them in and waited for the elevator to bring them up. Hugging Alex and Jess and it was again something that Alex wasn’t comfortable with but that made it all the more fun to do, especially since it made Eliza laugh.

“It’s good to see you again dear,” Eliza said after they’d hugged, and she was slowly getting into all this happy family stuff, but it also gave her a little pang of guilt for Lex not being there.

“Glad you could all make it, mom. Kara is currently indisposed in the kitchen so can I get you something to drink?” she offered using the word mom carefully, but Eliza just smiled, as another stream of curses this time in English emitted from the kitchen.

“Oh god! Please don’t tell me Kara’s cooking? Jess, you’re with me I think she’s going to need some help,” Alex declared and dragged her girlfriend off towards the kitchen area post-haste as Jess mouthed something about Danvers’ being crazy and to please save her.

“J’onn I’ve got some of that scotch I think you like,” she offered the Martian who seemed more reserved with people around then he had been during their little talk at the bar. 

“I would like that,” he agreed, and she escorted the pair to the living room where Lois had joined her husband and Winn on the couch and the reporter was proceeding to whip their butts in Mario Kart.

“Kal,” J’onn nodded to Clark who as always gave a friendly smile back. Things weren’t as tense between the two men as she’d worried, but she hurried to get some alien scotch into J’onn’s system so the night would go smoothly.

“J’onn good to see you,” Clark replied to the Martian and then groaned when his wife used a shell to knock his kart off the track on the screen.

“On your left!” Lois laughed as she overtook him in what was turning into a very combative game of Mario Kart as Eliza laughed.

“Showing the boys how it’s done Lois?” the Danvers matriarch asked sitting down on the couch and joining in the fun.

“Hey Eliza and you bet, somebody has to cut them down to size,” the reporter chuckled as it was Winn’s turn to groan at being blown to smithereens.

Another knock on the balcony doors signaled Cassandra’s arrival to the party with James in tow, how they’d gotten up there she didn’t want to know, but they were both sporting cowl and helmet hair.

“What were you guys doing?” she asked letting them inside and she could see both the Batgirl suit and the Guardian armor hidden under her balcony table.

“We got a hit on some Institution activity, but it turned out to be a false lead,” James explained finishing buttoning up his shirt. 

“You two better not have been fooling around on my balcony,” she teased them, and Cassandra blushed ever so slightly fixing her dress.

“Maybe,” the soft-spoken young woman said as she escorted them inside with Clark jumping to his feet to hug his best friend.

“Clark this is Cassandra,” James introduced his not-quite girlfriend to his old friend and to her credit Cassandra didn’t seem at all impressed by being in Superman’s presence.

“How is Bruce?” Clark asked shaking the young woman’s hand as she watched them interact.

“Paranoid,” Cassandra deadpanned and after a moment of silence Clark burst out laughing as the vigilante smirked.

“Tell him to relax more next time you see him alright? Clark asked and Cassandra frowned before finding her neutral expression again.

“We’re not speaking right now,” the girl explained, and she felt compelled to put a sympathetic hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Ol’pointy ears wasn’t a fan of her working with us,” James said and put an arm around Cassandra.

“Oh, that stupid son of…” Clark caught himself before cursing and then shook his head sighing.

“Come on, let me introduce you to Lois she has some choice thoughts about him I think you’ll love to hear,” he offered the pair with that patented Superman wink and she looked at the man recognizing that same open acceptance she saw Kara so often display.

Leaving the living room and checking on the things the kitchen she found Kara wearing her Trophy Wife apron that Alex had gotten her as a joke and Jess and the secret agent soon to be sister-in-law were helping the blonde putting on the finishing touches to their dinner.

“How is everyone? Are they having fun?” Kara asked nervously floating between the stove and the oven with her feet not touching the ground as Jess chopped up a salad and Alex was whipping cream for what she assumed would be a dessert.

“They’re playing Mario Kart and shit-talking Batman, how are things in here?” she asked and kissed her fiancée on the cheek as she floated past.

“Good, good, Alex came in an organized everything so we should be ready soon,” the blonde replied blushing as she used a quick blast of heat-vision to cook an undercooked piece of steak.

“That was some impressive cursing you were doing too,” Alex laughed, and Jess giggled throwing a handful of chopped tomatoes into the salad bowl. 

“Need me to do anything?” she asked, and Kara shook her head with blonde locks flying everywhere.

“We’re almost done, so start moving everyone to the dining room,” the blonde instructed her and then added her customary. “Please?” 

“Yes ma’am,” she laughed and kissed the blonde again on the cheek as she floated around their kitchen. 

Seeing Kara embrace who she truly was, always gave her the warmest of feelings, even if it was something as simple as floating around their kitchen preparing dinner for their extended family and the blonde had really stepped up her game to overcome her self-professed terrible cooking skills for this occasion.

Herding their weird mishmashed family into the dining room where each took their seats marked my little notes from Kara welcoming each and every one of them to their home and to this feast. Then Alex and Jess arrived carrying the food and finally Kara herself emerged, still floating about two inches from the floor without her apron on. The blonde waited for them all to sit and the spread her arms out.

“I’m sorry if some things are lost in translation, but here goes,” the blonde hero said with a smile and she gave her a sneaky thumbs up which made the blonde giggle. 

Kara then pulled herself up to her full height, squared her shoulders and became Kara Zor-El, the Last Daughter of Krypton and truth be told it made her squeeze her thighs together, but also laugh internally because for some this was the first time seeing this transformation in Kara from Danvers to Zor-El. 

“Welcome to this gathering to celebrate the upcoming union of the House of El and the House of Luthor, as Lena’s suitor it’s my duty to ask you, that you come in peace and leave in peace and that no ill thoughts are to be allowed within this place for the duration of this feast,” she declared in a strong and regal voice to all present.

“Wow!” Winn let out a breath of air and Kara smiled at him as Clark look like he’d seen a ghost and Lois was grinning at her husband’s discomfort.

“So please, eat and enjoy the spoils of our table and know that you are all, always welcome in our house be it in time of joy or grief,” the blonde went on and raised her glass of red wine and everyone else mutely followed suit.

“To my wife-to-be, Lena Kieran Luthor, Stronger together!” Kara finished with a loud proclamation and everyone raised their glasses to a loud chorus.

“Stronger together!” she found herself almost shouting as she looked into Kara’s sapphire blue eyes and the blonde beauty who owned her heart and soul met her gaze mouthing the words, I love you over the clinking of glasses and she could only mouth them back. 

The meal was, to many of their friends’ surprise delicious and Kara was beaming with pride at having pulled this off. The only thing she didn’t like about the evening was that they sat at each head of the table so she couldn’t tease Kara as much as she wanted too. Hearing Kara talking about duty and being her suitor had done all sorts of things to her brain and other parts of her body that would require the blonde’s attention once everyone was gone.

After giving each other a ceremonial gift of salt and bread, a substitute for similar things on Krypton they’d settled down for an evening of talking with their friends and family. Later, Clark and Lois had been the first to leave, citing the long flight to Metropolis, then J’onn bid his farewells with Winn and Eliza, James and Cassandra following close behind. The vigilantes sheepishly asking if they could change inside this time and that left only Alex and Jess.

“You’ve come a long way boss,” Jess said sipping a glass of amber scotch as they watched Alex and Kara laughing and sharing a tub of ice-cream.

“You haven’t called me boss in a long time Jess,” she laughed and kicked off her heels wiggling her toes.

“I know, but it wasn’t so long ago I was patching you up in the kitchen over there,” her former assistant reminded her nodding towards the kitchen.

“You saved me you know,” she admitted to the woman. “I don’t think I could have done those first few months as Green Lantern without you,” she went on and smiled.

“All part of the job Lena, but I better take her home, and I think you want some… time with Kara after the way you were looking at her at dinner,” Jess laughed and glanced over at her girlfriend who was wrestling with Kara for the tub of ice-cream the sisters had been sharing.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said trying to be serious but then burst out laughing, it had been a long evening after all and she’d had more than a few glasses both wine and scotch.

“Come on Alex, time to go home,” Jess declared after draining her drink and ordering a ride to pick them.

“Aww,” Alex said sounding almost like an upset little girl which made Kara laugh all the harder.

“We were going to have a sleepover,” Kara giggled and the blonde Kryptonian was definitely tipsy of the alien scotch she’d shared with J’onn and Clark. 

“You can do that later,” Jess said with a smile as she helped Alex into her jacket and then gave her a quick hug.

“Thanks for coming, Jess,” she said, hugging her friend and former assistant back as hard as she could.

“Any time Lena, now get your Danvers to bed and I'll take care of mine,” Jess laughed and a few hugs later it was only her and Kara in their apartment.

“That was fun,” Kara said quietly and shuffled her bare feet on the floor and seeming to calm down with it just being the two of them in the apartment now.

“You were amazing,” she said and stepped closer to the blonded putting her hands on those strong hips as Kara’s nose wriggled slightly as the blonde smiled.

“I hope I didn’t make you suffer too much because I know that look,” the blonde whispered as she felt a hand pulling at the hem of her red dress, pulling it up around her waist and exposing her soaked underwear. 

Of course, Kara had been able to smell her arousal and the scent had seemed to sober the blonde up on the spot. Taking hold of Kara’s beautiful face, she started slowly kissing the blonde beauty and felt herself being pushed back towards the living room until her butt bumped against the back of their couch. 

“You were divine and I couldn’t stop looking at you all night, but fuck all that duty and honor talk made me horny,” she whispered with her voice husky and feeling her face flushing with heat as Kara sank to her knees to take care of her.

“Well I’m your suitor so I better take care of that,” the blonde murmured resting her head against her stomach and pulling down her underwear in one smooth motion. Spreading her legs, she leaned back against the back of their couch as Kara started licking at her pussy lovingly and soon her fingers were running through the blonde’s hair.

“I’m not going to… last long…” she gasped for air and felt Kara nodding for her to give in while sucking on her clit as a long finger slipped inside her and then another.

Kara knew her so well and Tesla’s Coils it felt amazing as she leaned back against the couch and let herself be taken like so many times before. It ended like always with her screaming at the top of her lungs as Kara lifted her up, so she was sitting on the back of their couch and those pink lips continued to ravage her pussy while those strong fingers inside her curled up which caused her world to explode with a loud scream of: "Kara!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty sure this is the most characters I've written interacting together in one scene so far, so I hope it wasn't a mess!


	16. A Walk in the Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara soaks in the sunlight as Lena works through some pre-marriage jitters in the lab and what could possibly ruin such a perfect day?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm moving house finally, but wanted to get a chapter out for you guys to enjoy over the weekend and of course I didn't post it right

Kara did a barrel-roll through the skies above National City because it was a wonderful morning! She’d woken up next to a slightly grumpy and hungover but still stunningly beautiful especially without makeup Lena Luthor, and then she had given her wife-to-be a big kiss and made them breakfast. When she'd then used her reporter instincts to sense that the raven-haired genius in her life needed some space she’d kissed her goodbye and decided to go out on patrol. 

It wasn’t a busy morning when it came to super-heroics and truth be told she was mostly enjoying the wind in her hair and the sun on her face when her belt buckle vibrated signaling a call and she tapped it to answer.

“You got Supergirl,” she said with a grin and slowed down her flight-speed so the rushing wind wouldn’t drone out her voice. 

“Good morning, are we out having fun?” Alex’s voice said in her ear through the integrated systems Lena had built into her suit with a tiny earpiece providing audio and a small microphone built into the collar of her suit picking up her voice. 

“Are you spying on me, because that’s not very sisterly?” she asked looking around but saw no signs of a DEO helicopter.

“Why would I spay on you when you’re all over the morning news, saving kittens from trees and helping a stuck ice-cream truck before eating a good portion of said ice-cream,” her sister informed her and golly maybe she was being a bit impulsive this morning.

“Well, it’s a beautiful morning what can I say? How come you’re not hungover like Lena seeing that Jess had to carry you home last night?” she teased her adopted sister and, in the background, could hear Jess laughing.

“I might have given myself a saline IV when I woke up, don't tell anyone but it's best hangover cure in the world,” her sister admitted with a guilty laugh.

“Oooh! You cheated! Lena is going to be so pissed hearing that,” she laughed and did another roll before flying high up into the clouds feeling the tiny drops in them cool against her face .

“Oh give me a break! Your girlfriend has a freaking power ring to help her, and did the apartment survive us?” Alex countered and she did have a point since Lena was probably spry as a spring chicken right now and puttering about their lab.

“It wasn't too bad and I cleaned up after you left. Do you think everyone had fun?” she asked and stopped by the National City Towers that served as the headquarters of L-Corp now to check on Lena’s fusion reactor several stories underground, and it was humming along nicely. 

“Lena can be the hostess with the mostest when she wants to be and your cooking didn’t put anyone in the hospital, so I’d say yes,” her sister teased her back and she was right Lena had been a great hostess. Blushing she thought that one could almost say her fiancée had been a hostess cake too seeing how she’d eaten her out on the back of their couch once everyone had left. 

“Thanks... I think? By the way, how does the L-Corp building’s rooftop sound to you?” she asked and examined the large rooftop area Lena often used for functions. It was giving her some ideas of the wedding variety and the big day, well night, was almost upon them after all.

“Well, I think you’re like ten steps ahead of me like usual again, how does it sound for what exactly? Because I’m sure you and Lena have already done unspeakable things up there,” Alex laughed, and she could hear Jess slapping her sister across the back of the head for being crude.

“First of all, mind your own business and second, for the wedding, we’ve done the ceremonies of sunrises and family, which means the marriage ceremony is next,” she explained and touched down on the giant L of the L-Corp logo which she’d seen Lena and her workers pull upright through pure muscle-power all those months ago. One of the many moments that had caused her to fall head over heels for the raven-haired and green-eyed woman with the biggest brain on the planet.

“Isn’t a bit… out in the open?” her sister asked as always, the secret agent on the lookout for dangers.

“It’s not a long ceremony and it’s only going to be a few people and at night!” she countered and the more she thought about it the more she liked it. This was after all the house that Lena Luthor had built and it would only be fitting that they get married there at least in the Kryptonian ceremony.

“Hey Kara, it’s Jess and if it’s at night I can make sure the place is empty,” Lena’s former assistant and her sister’s live-in girlfriend cut in.

“Oh, hey Jess, that would be perfect, it needs to happen at the next full moon, but don't worry I’ve already warned Lena,” she said with a smile which turned into a frown when she realized that was probably the reason for her beloved taking flight to the lab after breakfast.

“Can I assume that she is hiding in her lab now?” Jess asked and the woman’s concern for Lena was always touching.

“Maybe... oh crud! I can be such a dummy, and then I gave her some space by going out on patrol instead of talking to her... ugh... do you think she’ll be okay?” she asked, and truth be told she’d kind of sprung it on Lena that the day of their marriage was drawing closer.

“After she builds a death-ray or two maybe, but she'll be fine remember this is how Lena deals with things,” the woman told her in a gentle assuring tone of voice and she smiled a little.

“Thanks Jess I'll bring her something with kale in it later, or what do you bring to say I'm sorry for declaring that the day is almost upon us!" she said and then shook her head realizing what she'd told Lena earlier had probably sounded very overwhelming to the hungover CEO. "I think something sweet would be better if you said that! And I’m handing you back to Alex," Jess laughed and she heard the phone being shuffled around on the other end. "Alex please tell me that there is something big that I need to punch?” she asked and cracked her knuckles before sitting down on the giant silver L of the L-Corp sign.

“No, nothing requires Supergirl’s or her fists' attention right now sorry, except for maybe signing autographs and avoiding going back home,” her sister laughed as she could hear that Jess was kissing her sister’s neck and gross thoughts that followed made her wish that sometimes she didn’t have super-hearing.

“Fine, fine, I’ll let you go, talk to you soon alright?” she asked and got a mumbled sure from her sister before the line went dead. Shivering a bit in mild disgust at the thought of what they were doing she kicked her red-booted feet on top of the L-Corp sign.

“You’ve come a long way Zor-El, but you're still a dork from Midvale sometimes,” she said to herself closing her eyes and inhaling the fresh morning as the sun’s rays danced across her face. Leaning backward she soaked in the sun and smiled to herself.

Maybe, just maybe, she'd scared the crap out of Lena and it was possible that they would be fighting against an ancient evil soon. But she could always apologize to Lena and the looming darkness be damned, she was going to be happy and enjoy every second she had with her genius bombshell of a fiancée. Because soon she and the raven-haired beauty would be married and this whole winding journey would be at its end. 

Resting her hand on her stomach she thought about that nagging question again. No, she didn’t have any serious pre-marriage jitters, it was more to do with what would come afterward. Even though she had notes for a Kryptonian Birthing Matrix stashed away, part of her wanted to do it naturally, but that wasn't for the here and now. 

“What will be, will be,” she said to herself as she got to her feet and hovered in front of the L-Corp sign before her ears picked up the sound of kids’ playing in a nearby park. Some of them were pretending to be Supergirl while others were Green Lanterns with the rare Batgirl thrown into the mix and Alex's idea of signing autographs didn't sound so bad. 

Thus, with no pressing matters to attend to and Lena being holed up in their lab no doubt still needing some space or so she reasoned with herself, she flew towards the park and smiled when the kids started shouting her name. With her hands on her hips, she greeted the little superheroes that were using shirts for capes and with their parents watching she started answering their questions. One question stood out, however, and made her call Lena. A girl asked if she had a boyfriend or a girlfriend and of course she said yes. Because after all, Supergirl’s girlfriend was Green Lantern and they weren't technically getting married in a few days.

* * *

The day was almost upon them, or so Kara had informed her after they’d woken up amidst the leftovers of their family gathering. Her with a banging headache from too much scotch and the blonde chipper and cheerful as always. It will be a walk in the park she'd tried telling herself but that had barely slowed down the onset of her panic attack.

Despite Kara’s sunny demeanor over breakfast and her reminding herself silently that all she had to do was show up on the day and say yes. The declaration had eventually sent her into a mild panic attack, and she’d headed to her lab after breakfast with Kara wanting to go out on a quick Supergirl patrol no doubt to give her space. 

The day was almost upon them, why did the Kryptonian have to make it sound so damn ominous? Calm down Luthor, you’re just having a control freak moment, and remember you’re marrying this woman because you love her stupid much, she reminded herself as she tinkered with a very old invention while hunched over a workbench.

Next to her was Kara’s workbench, strewn with notes in two languages, bits of Kryptonian tech, a half-eaten doughnut on a plate and prototypes for what the blonde called her anti-darkness weapons that she’d been building for their friends. The blonde must have been deeply engaged in her work to have left an uneaten doughnut like that she thought to herself and giving in to her inner supervillain she stole the rest of it. 

Smiling she thought about how that long ago, well, in reality, a year or so ago, she’d started work on a personal forcefield for Kara and now the blonde was doing something similar to aid their friends. Back then she hadn’t known about the blonde’s Kryptonian heritage and the reporter, in turn, had no clue about her Green Lantern status. Back then she had simply been Lena Luthor, the CEO of L-Corp with a massive crash on a cup-reporter from CatCo named Kara Danvers. 

Taking of her power ring and putting to the side she picked up a small screwdriver and looked through the magnifying glass mounted on the bench. It felt calming to work with her hands again and not to use the limitless power of the ring or the Starheart that was currently resisting within her. 

_That won't work you know. The energy flow will not be stable unless you add flow compensation here._ Kara’s words from that day in the hotel room when the blonde had come out to her as Supergirl rang in her head and she smiled again. It was easy for people to assume she was attracted to Kara for the woman’s beauty, kindness or her incredible strength, but it was the blonde’s mind that drew her in like a moth to the flame or more fittingly like a comet to the gravitational pull of the Sun.

By tweaking the battery output she hoped to make the forcefield generator work for an extended amount of time. Even though in reality the size of the battery meant that it would never generate enough power to run the shield for more than a few seconds and she knew that this was one of those endless problems which would never be solved. But she liked working in the field of the impossible, and thus she revisited this invention every so often just to make sure that the laws of physics remained the same.

Glancing at a muted TV-screen she saw that Kara was indeed out and about in the crisp morning sunshine, busy saving a kitten from a tree and simply reassuring National City that their Girl of Steel was around. The blonde hero would sometimes, especially when the sun was bright, don her costume and patrol for the sheer delight of helping others. On the TV-screen the blonde’s beaming face as she talked to a group of children and with her free hand she jotted down a few notes on potential Human-Kryptonian DNA fusion because damn it that woman deserved to be a mother someday.

And how did you get lucky enough to land her again? The voice of doubt asked in her head, but she wasn’t in the mood for a trip down self-pity lane, so she ignored it. Instead, she glanced down at her golden bracelets and studied the light reflecting in the diamonds embedded in the reddish-gold metal. Marrying Kara would be the smartest thing she’d ever do, and no old self-doubts would get in the way of that. What about Lex though? The voice reminded her, and she groaned dosing the screwdriver away. Newton's Law! It was hard to calm down when your egotistical super-genius brain wouldn’t leave you alone.

Big brother Lex, currently serving twenty years to life in a Metropolis prison had recently returned to her life. Well in truth she’d sought him out hoping to find some trace of the man he used to be, and it was there. Buried underneath years of hate and the darkness which had infected him at some point. Now pacing around the lab she groaned and rubbed her face in frustration at being unable to put the problem of Lex out of her mind. 

The violet light of love and compassion, that had been the key to reach through to Lex but using it had been taxing and she knew she was in uncharted territory when it came to the other lights of the emotional spectrum. Plus, the further you got away from the green center of the spectrum the more intense the effects of using a given color would be, as she’d seen when Kara had become a Red Lantern for the briefest of times. The memory of Kara with bleeding red-eyes and a hollow voice in place of her usual sweet one still haunted her sometimes. 

“Planck's Constant, you’re a scientist, not a philosopher focus on the problem at hand,” she reminded herself out loud and almost as if to mock her the Book of Oa opened up on a nearby table with a loud ominous thud. 

With her innate curiosity taking over she walked slowly up to the tricky tome and glanced down at the page it had opened on. The pages weren’t blank this time nor were the words rearranging themselves. Instead, glowing with green light there was a clear as day English sentence which read: Love is nothing without the Willpower to make it manifest and Rage is futile unless it is directed by a strong enough will.

“Creepy… but logical,” she whispered, and this went a bit further to confirm her theory that the Book of Oa might be sentient or at least responsive to the reader’s thoughts. The book again responded to her attention with the words; Do it! appearing on the page.

"Do it you say, well experimentation is at the heart of every scientific endeavor after all," she told herself and looked around for a comfortable spot to test the idea she'd just gotten.

Sitting down on the floor in front of the holographic projector housing the A.I. of Kara's mother she assumed a lotus position similar to the one she’d seen Kara in a few times when the blonde had been doing her form of Kryptonian meditation

In step one of her experiment, she focused on the love she felt not only for Kara but for their friends and family and even Lex. Holding her left hand in front of her face she tried to make the violet light manifest itself and the more she let herself feel her love and compassion a tiny violet spark appeared in the palm of her hand. 

“No way!” she laughed and held up her other hand and it was much easier to manifest the green light of Willpower in the palm of her right hand. 

Not needing a ring to use the green light had been something she’d known she was capable of since her fight with Sinestro, but this was something else she realized and started passing the two glowing balls of light between her hands, with the violet ball of crackling light and the smoother green one sparking off each other as they passed. Step two was a success using her willpower to focus her compassion made maintaining the violet light much easier. 

Step three meant further pushing her experiment into uncharted waters, and she focused on her rage and anger. The darkness had taken Lex from her and tried to kill Kara through the use of kryptonite infused fear gas and in response to those feelings a ball of angry crackling red energy appeared in front of her eyes.

"In Brightest Day... In Blackest Night..." she repeated the first line of the Green Lantern oath to help herself focus and felt a drop of sweat running down her nose when she pushed on and started making the three lights rotate around each other in front of her.

Understanding now that the willpower was harnessing her love and the rage she felt was feeding the strength of her willpower like a perpetual-motion engine of emotions. She studied the lights with childlike fascination as they swirled around faster and faster until her ring vibrating on the workbench broke her concentration and the lights popped out of existence. 

“Tesla’s coils!” she cursed at having her trance broken and clumsily got to her feet to check on the ring. 

“Supergirl to Green Lantern, come in GL,” Kara’s voice came from a small hologram that appeared over the ring.

“This is GL,” she chuckled assuming her alter-ego, glad for the distraction and the green hologram of the blonde hero smiled.

“Could use a hand here at the park, got some little fans who want to meet my girlfriend,” the blonde said with a beaming smile.

Saying no to a smiling Kara Danvers was never an option for her and even with her lingering wedding panic, she found herself smiling back at the emerald hologram of the blonde hero. Her emotions were also running high from her little experiment and being impulsive didn't have to be a bad thing.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she laughed and slipped the ring on her finger allowing her uniform to materialize over her skin.

“Great, see you soon!” Kara giggled and the tiny hologram vanished as she grabbed the white House of El crested cape the blonde hero had gifted her from a nearby rack and swung it over her shoulders.

The cape wasn’t part of her ring generated suit and had to be clasped on whenever she wanted to wear it. It had been a very sweet gift from Kara and when the occasion called for it, she wore it, and if the mission was to make an appearance as Supergirl’s girlfriend Green Lantern then it was in Kara’s words most definitely a cape mission. 

After sealing up their lab and making sure that the security systems were on she launched herself into the sky from their balcony. Once airborne she generated a green visor over her eyes to find Kara’s location and the blonde was indeed in a nearby park sitting cross-legged on the ground talking to a group of children while their parents watched on.

Fixing her mask she thought about how to approach this situation, even though Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor were both out and engaged, Supergirl and Green Lantern had only recently come out as a couple. Yeah in Kara's words superhero dating kinda sucked, but deciding to throw caution somewhat to the wind she came up with the perfect way to make her entrance

Landing quietly behind the blond she let the ring subtly mask her features and held a finger to her lips for the children to be quiet as Kara was busy in the middle of one of her story-rants about one of their adventures. Kneeling behind the blonde hero she put her gloved hands over those perfect blue eyes and asked that age-old question. 

“Guess who?” she asked, and the group of kids giggled as Kara smiled with her nose twitching and her lips curling upwards.

“Let me think, smells nice, strong hands... oh, I know, Aquaman?” Kara asked excitedly and tried to turn her head to see.

“Nope, I don’t have a beard or any of those cool tattoos,” she laughed and smirked at the kids with a wink for them not to give things away too fast.

“Uhm well you don't sound like him, so maybe you're Wonder Woman?” the blonde asked next as some of the kids started whispering to give the blonde hero a hint or two.

“You wish! Try again Supergirl,” she laughed and almost dropped her hands from Kara’s eyes keenly aware that some of the parents were taking pictures of them, but she didn’t care right now because this was too much fun.

“Oh! I know, you're that new hero the one with big ears... is it Batgirl?” Kara teased her, and she shook her head laughing.

"I don't sound like this do I?" she asked making her voice as gruff and growly as she could as the kids laughed harder.

"No, but you sound really pretty, oh I know you're that cool hero, help me out kids, she makes super cool huge green things and flies really fast, what's she called again?" Kara asked encouraging the kids to join in the fun.

“It's Green Lantern!” the kids shouted in a chorus of laughing voices as she dropped her hands from the blonde’s eyes and sat down next to her.

“Hey you,” Kara said with a huge smile and kissed her on the cheek which made her fighting back a blush. They had rarely been this open their relationship between their alter-egos, but the blonde hero seemed to be a sunny mood and wanting to be affectionate.

“So, what’s this super special mission you called me for Supergirl?” she asked smiling when Kara was done kissing her cheek with the kids staring at them awestruck.

“Well we were hoping that you’d help me tell a story using Ringy,” the blonde hero said sweetly pointing at her power-ring, and the kids nodded eagerly.

“What story are we telling?” she asked making her ring sparkle with a green light in an exaggerated fashion because a Luthor could always put on a show if the need arose.

“The story of Lora Zor-El of Krypton,” Kara said clapping her hands and with a nod, she generated a green hologram of the planet Krypton and Kara’s ancestor for the wide-eyed children and parents in attendance.

“Lora Zor-El was an ancient hero of Krypton and she was so mighty that they called her the Hammer of Rao,” the blonde started telling the story of her ancestor with her creating the matching green light holograms for their captive audience. 

The story Kara told was part fact from the Book of Oa and part fiction from the blonde reporter's fertile imagination about of how the Hammer of Rao had fallen in love with a Green Lantern and fought against injustice across the universe. Though she blonde left out the part about how her ancestor had died fighting the darkness that once again threatened the universe. When the story ended with a happy ending for Lora Zor-El and her mysterious Green Lantern which she topped of with green fireworks a little girl tugged at her cape while she watched Kara tell the kids and their parents to always be good and just to everyone they met.

“Yes?” she asked looking down at the blonde child with her best smile, which was, in reality, a slightly brighter version of her usual smirk.

“Are you really-really Supergirl’s girlfriend?” the girl asked and glanced over at Kara where the blonde hero was signing autographs and posing for selfies.

“Yep, I sure am,” she said proudly kneeling so she could be face to face with the girl, a trick she'd learned from Lex actually when they'd visited a preschool once in happier times.

“What is she like?” the girl asked and glanced over at her mom who was hovering nearby. The parents seemed much more at ease with the children being around Kara then her, which she chalked up to her wearing a mask and the blonde being Supergirl. 

“She’s the nicest person you’ll ever meet, but she's also super smart and not a lot of people know that. Tell me, is she looking at us right now?” she asked the young girl.

“Yeah, and she’s smiling like really big!” the little girl whispered with a grin. 

“Good, and is that your mom over there?” she asked and glanced at the woman she assumed was the girl’s mother who still hovered close by looking slightly worried that her daughter was maybe bothering her.

“Yep, you think maybe one day she’ll have a girlfriend like you,” the girl declared, and she heard the mother gasping.

“Who knows, it's always hard to tell with stuff like that but maybe one day she will,” she said trying not to get the kid’s hopes up and put her ring hand on the girl’s shoulder.

"That's okay I want her to meet someone special, your powers are super cool," the girl said sounding very wise for someone probably not much older than seven.

Before she could continue talking to her little fan the world started going to hell in a handbasket. First, her power-ring flared, and the scared little girl jumped back before a flash of light in the sky then caused Kara’s eyes to shoot upwards and then the blonde started ushering the kids back to their parents. 

“What did you see?” she asked in a hushed voice rushing over to Kara once she’d returned the girl to her mother.

“Something big entered the upper atmosphere heading for Metropolis,” Kara said getting ready to take off.

“Hold on, let’s get Cassandra and James first, we’re a team remember,” she reminded the blonde hero who did have a habit of blasting off to save the day all by her lonesome and it was a habit they were working on curtailing.

Kara looked at her mournfully and she could see that the blonde was worried about her cousin but the hero finally gave a firm nod and she summoned up a green bubble to carry them to Cassandra’s cave where the vigilante spent most of her free time and if they were lucky James would be there too.

In the cave they indeed found the disheveled-looking pair of vigilantes known as Batgirl and Guardian pulling on their gear after she messaged ahead to alert them. Winn then dialed in through the holographic map of the city and his giant head was floating above them with a smirk on his face at the state of his friend and James was being very polite by not flipping him the bird. It was then when her ring vibrated again further making her day worse and it was Hailey, the girl she’d talked to on the rooftop in Metropolis a while back. 

“Hailey?” she asked as the flickering hologram of the blonde teenager appeared over her ring.

“Oh, thank god, Lena, I mean Green Lantern, we need you here like yesterday, I’m in one of the disaster shelters and the lights keep flickering,” the blonde teen exclaimed.

“Slow down, what’s going on?” she asked and motioned for Cassandra and James to hurry up as Kara paced around the cave with barely contained nervous energy coming off her.

“This black stuff started falling from the sky and everybody is running, I barely got my mom to the emergency shelters and I can't reach my brother so I tried you,” the teen explained, talking fast and she could hear the fear in the girl’s voice.

“We're coming as fast as we can Hailey just hang tight and keep the line open okay?” she asked, and the hologram of the girl nodded her head.

“Umm guys, you might want to see this,” Winn’s giant holographic head said, and she looked up to see how every screen in the cave showing security cameras from all around Metropolis started going black one by one.

“What’s going on Winn?” James asked as Cassandra rushed toward her console and started tapping away at a keyboard to try to get the feeds back up to no avail.

“We’re losing all communications with Metropolis and it’s almost like the city is being disconnected from the rest of the world, here I just received this off the net,” Winn reported and a shaky cellphone video popped up of what looked like black ooze flowing down the street towards the person filming.

“Lena? Lena?!” Hailey’s hologram above her ring started shouting before fizzling out.

“Hailey! Hailey! Oh crap, guys get ready I’m going to do something stupid! Kara go quick, get the weapons you’ve been working on for Cassandra and James, and hurry because I’m making us a portal,” she ordered them and like a blur, the blonde hero was gone.

“Weapons?” Cassandra asked with a raised eyebrow pulling down her cowl as James stuffed his helmet down on his head.

“Nothing lethal guys, just a little extra power for you to use against that black stuff,” Kara said like she hadn't left, returning accompanied by a gust of wind with a pair of black golden-trimmed gauntlets and what looked like a police baton covered in golden circuitry. They were prototypes for some of the weapons the Kryptonian had sketched up after their first encounters with the black ooze and the darkness. 

“I’ve been studying the black ooze that the DEO collected from the trooper Lena knocked out and I think I found a way to disrupt it momentarily,” the blonde explained handing Cassandra the gauntlets and James the baton. 

“You think?” Cassandra asked in her soft voice as she traded in her black gauntlets for the golden-trimmed ones without protest because the Batgirl trusted them and that meant a lot right now.

“Well, it’s all a theory until we test it,” Kara shrugged with a lopsided smile while she started generating a glowing emerald portal that would take them to Hailey’s location.

"Warning spacetime folding exceeding safety limits," the ring reminded her and she ignored it, but it was right. 

This was a messy portal generation she was attempting and she was making up most of the math on the fly and the strain no doubt showed on her face because she felt Kara's worried eyes on her but they didn't have time to do it slow and steady. Something on the other side was also pushing back against her which made things all the more urgent.

“Accelerated spacetime folding is highly discouraged Green Lantern 2814,” her ring reminded her as the familiar headache of doing so hit her.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time Ringy,” she muttered and throwing her arms out wide and with the full force of willpower she tore open a hole in space and time with a sound like ripping cardboard and a swirling green portal appeared in front of her.

“Go, get through and secure the other side I’ll be right behind you,” she ordered her friends and when they paused because her nose was bleeding, she shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for them to worry about her though.

“I’m fine, go and make sure those people are safe and I'll be right behind you need to take care of one thing here first,” she said and her friends, really her teammates walked past her and through the portal. 

“Let’s go guys. We’ll see you on the other side,” Kara said and kissed her briefly before stepping through the portal with those sapphire blue eyes full of understanding and concern.

Of course, Kara hadn’t questioned why she needed a moment, because the blonde understood her freakishly well at times. Wiping the blood away from her nose she took a moment to steady herself and she raised her ring to her lips and tried to reach through to Lex. 

“Lex, you there?” she asked focusing on the mental image of her brother in his jail cell.

“Lena, is that you?” Lex’s voice asked from her ring in confusion. 

“It’s me, listen, something just hit Metropolis, and I’m coming to get you alright?” she stated and held out her other hand to keep the portal open a bit longer.

“No! Listen to me I’m not worth it Lena, leave me, and save who you can! ” Lex argued with her through the ring.

“Damn it, Lex please don’t argue with me on this!” she shouted at her ring and keeping the portal open was taking its toll now as the ring grew hotter on her finger.

"Catastrophic portal failure imminent Green Lanter 2814," the ring droned at her as she felt its the power fading so she poured in some of her own. 

“I heard that Lena, go be the hero you were always meant to be... I… Lena, it’s coming… no I’m Lex Luthor and you will not…” he started shouting but then the signal cut off like it had with Hailey and the link went dead.

“Lex! Lex! Don't hurt him you bastards!” she cursed and launched herself through the portal with a part of her wishing that she didn’t have friends and family in Metropolis because it made things much more complicated. Still, who was she kidding things had always been complicated in her life, but now she was a hero like Lex had said and it was time to save the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun!


	17. Siege of Metropolis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara are in for the fight of the lives as new heroes arise and Kara risks it all for the greater good

The darkness had come to Metropolis and it was coming for the city’s inhabitants as they huddled in emergency shelters dotted around the city, in the subway stations or hid on the upper floors of the city’s many skyscrapers. A dark mass of black ooze had crashed down in the middle of the city and then started spreading out in every direction like relentlessly flowing black lava while spawning from its seething mass unimaginable tar-like monsters straight from your darkest nightmares. 

“Thank god you’re here!” Hailey, the blonde teenager she’d befriended not long ago shouted running up to her when Lena popped into what looked like a Cold War-era nuclear shelter in a green flash causing people to panic before they saw who she was.

“Hailey, thank Tesla you’re alright! Where are the others?” she exclaimed briefly hugging the girl before looking around for Kara and her friends not quite sure how much time had passed since she sent her friends through the portal in National City. Folding time and space could be tricky like that.

“They went upstairs a few minutes ago when people started arriving and shouting that those things are coming for the shelter,” the girl said sounding panicked but also impressively trying to stay calm under very dire circumstances.

Looking around the shelter she did a quick headcount of the people gathered there as she could hear rumblings coming from street level of no doubt Kara and her friends fighting the oncoming hordes of the darkness’ minions. Spacing out for a second she was snapped back to reality by Hailey shaking her shoulder. 

“Earth to GL! What are you waiting for? Go, we’ll be fine,” the girl then insisted when she hesitated while trying to calculate if she could teleport everyone in the shelter to safety without causing herself a massive brain hemorrhage.

“You know you’re a very brave girl Hailey,” she said with a small smile, and she knew how silly that had sounded the moment the teenager rolled her eyes at her. 

“Yeah, growing up in Metropolis makes you kind of fearless, now go and be a big hero!” the girl urged her, but she couldn’t leave these people without some protection.

“I will, but I can’t leave you down here without some protection,” she said patiently and held out her ring hand focusing on the ring. There was a feature in the ring she’d always known about, a seldom-used one granted but perfect for this situation.

“Hailey Goodwin of Metropolis, I hereby deputize you into the Green Lantern Corps for the next twenty-four hours,” she declared as the girl’s eyes went wide as a second ring emerged from her own.

“No way… I can’t…” the girl protested but the fearless young woman was already reaching for the ring and it slipped onto her finger.

“Speak the oath with me,” she told the girl summoning up her power battery from its pocket dimension as the green light enveloped them both.

"In brightest day,” she started and nodded for the girl to point her ring at the power battery.

“In blackest night,” Hailey said firmly and pointed her ring at the battery as the light around her grew bright

“No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might

Beware my power! 

Green Lantern's light!" they both recited the oath with people staring at them in awe as Hailey’s Corps uniform appeared.

“Wow!” the girl gasped seeing her clothes being replaced by the green and black of the Corps’ colors.

“Wow indeed, Green Lantern Hailey protect these people understand, be the bright light in their darkness,” she said hoping she sounded inspiring and Hailey nodded mutely.

Making a fist with her ring hand Hailey gave her a firm nod and a smile and she knew the people in the shelter would be in good hands if they failed, but they couldn’t fail too much was riding on this. But most importantly she’d managed to give hope to the crowds of people huddled in the shelter and sometimes that was all that was needed to win the day.

“I will, I promise! Now go help your girlfriend,” the newly anointed teenage hero urged her showing such complete faith in her that she was taken aback by it somewhat as she rushed up to street level where she found Kara and her friends engaged in a vicious battle with towering and glistening black beings trying to prevent them from entering the shelter.

The things assaulting her friends were half-formed vaguely humanoid constructs much like her own ring generated creations, but they were sluggish like the mind behind them was far away or struggling to maintain many constructs at once, but what they lacked in speed they made up for in sheer numbers. 

“Lena!” Kara shouted blasting away with her heat-vision and cleaving a growling tentacled armed behemoth in half with it as it advanced on the blonde hero.

“Kara!” she shouted back and flew towards her partner trailing green fire behind her and it sizzled against the black tendrils snaking across the grounds towards the shelter.

“Glad you could join us!” James grunted pushing against an advancing creature’s grasping arms with his shield and swinging at it with the glowing baton Kara had given him knocking chunks of it with each blow. 

“Couldn’t leave those people unprotected, what’s the…” she started asking for an update but was cut off from finishing her sentence as another monstrosity slammed into her and knocked her off balance. 

Before she could recover and blast the thing to smithereens, assistance arrived in the form Cassandra Cain as the cowled hero dove headfirst with fists flying at the beast and Batgirl’s rapid blows exploded the thing into a shower of black droplets.

“Here take my hand,” the soft-spoken dark hero grunted hauling her to her feet before turning to face their next attacker.

Kara’s light-weapon prototypes seemed to be working like a charm she observed, as Batgirl’s gauntlets glowed with a faint golden hue which enabled her to destroy the darkness’ constructs by using her fists to apply a liberal dose of smackdown. 

“Thanks,” she grunted back at the cowled hero over the din of battle as she formed a pair of emerald swords in both hands and started hacking away at any creature that tried to get close to the shelter’s entrance.

What had caused this and why was the darkness here in Metropolis? she thought as she dodged a lumbering construct with half-formed features and sliced it in half with one swing of her glowing green sword. They needed to regroup, they needed Kara’s cousin to join them and most importantly they needed to find Lex before the beasts caught him, if they hadn’t already. 

Before she could order a tactical retreat, she barely managed to duck under a heavy blow from a towering beast made up writhing black plasma and angrily she drove both swords into the hideous thing’s chest. Sending surge of willpower down the blades then caused it to burst into a spray of black ooze which sizzled when it hit her green aura. 

“Where is Superman?” she shouted at Kara who had resorted to ripping things apart with her bare hands with black goo splattering on the blonde’s face as she let loose another burst of heat-vision. 

“Kal’s on the other side of this thing!” Kara reported flying to her side and landing next to her with her sapphire blue eyes sizzling and smoking from her heat-vision.

“Ring, how big is it?” she asked her power-ring while fighting back to back with her fiancée as she pulled off her mask and allowed her eyes to flare with emerald fire. 

“Roughly three-square miles and spreading Green Lantern 2814-prime,” her ring reported with a new designation since she'd deputized Hailey and maybe it was her imagination, but it sounded almost afraid.

“Alright, Guardian, Batgirl you two fall back to the shelter’s entrance, me and Kara will clear us a perimeter around the shelter so we can regroup!” she declared and together both of them started burning away the relentlessly approaching mass of black ooze and assorted creatures as it threatened to overwhelm them and the shelter.

With a roar and a hiss, green and blue beams of heat and energy started burning away the tendrils of ooze and any creature caught in the beams exploded into droplets of black tar-like substance. 

Hearing Kara roaring as the blonde drew on her anger and rage using both blasts of heat-vision and gusts of freeze-breath to destroy the oncoming waves of darkness. It caused her to shiver slightly because she could feel the strong emotions coming of the blonde in waves until they eventually won a momentary victory. But it would be only a short reprieve in what would be a long day as the siege of Metropolis had only just begun.

With a large burned circle of black ooze and burst creatures all around them a loud screeching howl echoed across the city and it made her ears ring and it felt like something was scratching against the inside her brain as beside her Kara’s knees buckled and behind her Cassandra and James also fell to their knees clutching at their heads.

“Lena… dome… now…” Kara managed to say through gritted teeth as the blonde’s ears were bleeding from the screeching howl.

Raising her ring hand into the air she willed a glowing green dome into existence over them and entrance to the shelter as the remaining creatures fled and the sea of ooze started flowing back towards the center of the city.

“What the hell was that?” James groaned in pain, yanking off his helmet with his ears bleeding as Cassandra pulled up her mask to spit out some blood with a sound of audible disgust. 

“I think… we drove it back for now… probably hurt it,” she said focusing on maintaining the dome over them. They needed to regroup and come up with a plan before the entire city was overrun, but they wouldn’t be afforded that luxury.

Her blood ran cold when she heard a familiar popping sound from above, much like the sound of the Institution’s teleporters which they had become accustomed too but this was much louder, and it rang like a bell across the sky above Metropolis. 

“Shit! Not now… we’re not ready…” she cursed while frantically trying to think up a plan of action, any plan for that matter but Batgirl drove the point home for her how screwed they truly were. The primordial darkness had arrived in all it’s terrifying glory and all their plans went out the window in that instance. 

“Look!” Cassandra exclaimed pointing upwards as the sky started going dark as the silhouette of a black entity, vaguely humanoid in shape, started descending from the sky. 

Much like she was creating a protective dome over them, the being, for the lack of a better term, started creating a slithering black one over the entire city and it was almost as if it was mocking her. Think Luthor she chastised herself, but her head felt heavy now and it was like the things mere presence was overwhelming her ability to think straight. 

“Kal, no!” Kara shouted as a blue and red streak shot across the sky as Superman tried to prevent his city from being cut off completely from the rest of the world.

Trying to do several things at once with her head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton she reached out with a giant green glowing hand to try to stop Superman, but it was too late as the being, which was the darkness made manifest swatted the Man of Steel from the sky like he was a fly-by growing one of its arms to a massive size. The Last Son of Krypton recovered quickly, however, and made another pass at the being only to be swatted down again and again as the black dome completely covered the city and cut it off from the sun. 

“Kal!” Kara roared seeing her cousin fall as she tried to take off but somehow James and Cassandra were able to grab onto her and keep her grounded for a moment

“Kara no! We need to plan!” she exclaimed, but it was too late Kara shook off their friends and she was barely able to dissolve her dome in time to let the Girl of Steel pass.

“You two, keep the people at ground-level safe as you can and keep those things away from the shelters, I’m going to go help them!” she ordered Cassandra and James and didn’t wait for them to reply before she took off to the sky.

Tapping into the Starheart she allowed it's emerald flames to engulf her once again and she barely dodged the falling Superman as he was knocked back yet again by an almost dismissive blow by the darkness’ manifested form. 

The Man of Steel was bleeding from a cut on his lip and sporting a swollen eye, but he was unbowed and unbeaten. Kara too was swatted back but recovered as she managed to catch the blonde Kryptonian in a glowing green net.

No time to plan, no time to construct something fancy because right now it was taking all her willpower to keep a straight thought. It was time to resort to the sledgehammer method of problem-solving. She didn’t like, it wasn’t even her plan Z, but the longer this thing remained on Earth there was no telling what it would do. 

“Get behind me and on my mark pour it on!” she shouted and thankfully the Kryptonians heard her because she didn’t want them in front of her when she tried this. 

Drawing deep on the Starheart’s power she planned to end this quickly and decisively, not wanting another slugfest like her fight with Sinestro had been, not with innocent bystanders trapped in the city below. Cracking her knuckles, she pointed both fists at the being and unleashed every ounce of power she had within herself at it. 

“Now guys! Let it burn in our fire!” she declared and unleashed the full force of the Starheart at the being.

Sheaths of emerald flame washed over the creature as it held a misshapen arm up to protect itself and soon the light from her emerald flame smashing against the creature was blinding. Next to her Kara and Superman started adding their heat-vision to her fire as the House of El stood united against the darkness.

“Yes! Kal, common don’t hold back!” Kara shouted and the cousins started focusing their heat-visions on the being, thus combining their powers with hers in an effort to burn the darkness out of the sky above Metropolis. 

“Is it working?” Superman shouted over the roar of the emerald fire and the crackling of heat-visions smashing against the creature’s defenses. 

“It has to, strong together guys!” Kara ever the optimist bellowed back at them and the three of them all sporting the House of El crest on their billowing red and white capes poured it on. 

From the ground, it looked like there was a green sun in the sky as Lena poured every ounce of her willpower and the Starhearts power into her desperate attack with flames erupting from her eyes and hands as she blasted the creature until she couldn’t sustain the barrage much longer. Minutes stretched out like hours as they held out as long as they could, but even the strongest wills need a moment to recover.

Breathing heavily as the emerald flames died down and the blinding blue light of heat-vision faded leaving spots in front of her eyes, she gasped. The thing was still there and the dome above the city was still in place. They hadn’t even slightly singed it despite all their effort and combined powers. 

“Leeena Luthhhor,” the thing then spoke in a gurgling voice and flicked what looked like a hand in their direction as she felt scratching sensation inside her head again. 

Before they could react waves of darkness washed over them and hurled them to the ground, she was only vaguely aware of hitting the ground as Kara and Superman were slammed the ground next to her, cracking the pavement and grunting as bodies of steel crashed into the concrete. 

Blurrily she could see the being descent from the black sky, with it’s half-formed and now familiar face smirking at her because it was her face it was mimicking. Blinking her eyes, she tried to get to her feet, but tendrils of black ooze reached up from the ground and pulled her back down. 

“Kara...” she croaked looking do the side and to her horror saw that both Kara and her cousin were struggling as they were slowly being encased in cocoons of the black tar-like substance. 

“Thank you for draining their powers, else trapping them would have been a challenge,” the creature gurgled through its half-formed mouth and she cursed quietly, so much for being a super-genius and thinking they could overpower something that had existed since the dawn of time.

“What… what do you want?” she asked hoping to buy herself some time while wiggling trying to free her ring hand and running endless scenarios through her mind, but her usually agile mind felt sluggish and she realized that the thing’s presence was in effect smothering her mind. 

“Want? I want, what I’ve always wanted. I want to banish the wretched lights from this universe!” the being declared sounding more coherent with its face now almost fully formed in a mocking facsimile of her own. 

“Why me and why now?” she grunted and focusing on her ring and the Starheart in her chest with all her might and hoping she could build up power slowly and discreetly, all she had to do was keep the thing talking.

“You, you are the Torchbearer, the host of the wretched Starheart and you brought the lights together,” the being spoke its voice now sounded like a hollow imitation of her own but it wasn’t making sense or was it?

The lights! In the lab, before the attack, she’d managed to briefly harness the violet and red lights together with the bright green light of her willpower. Could that have summoned this being with her face across time and space? Or was it her probing into what had caused Lex’s fall which had brought it forth? 

With the creature kneeling over her she winched when a cold and wet finger brushed against her cheek. Hold it together Luthor, just a little bit longer and you can break free and drag this thing away from Kara and Kal she reminded herself.

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself, you’re a merely another vessel for the Starheart which I have sought out over the eons,” the monstrous being with her face mocked her almost if it could read her thoughts, but she knew it couldn’t because then it would have known what she was planning.

“Lena Luthor, the girl that’s always full of questions, so much like your brother was full of questions when my probes found him. I’m sure you’re dying to know how I found him aren’t you?” the being kept mocking her as she let out a frustrated growl but said nothing.

“And my oh my, she’s beautiful, isn’t she? Just like her ancestor,” the being then almost purred and licked it’s now formed lips as it reached out and touched Kara’s face. 

“Yes… why… don’t you enlighten me?” she grunted as the tendrils around here were tightening while she fought her to keep herself from shouting at the being telling it to keep its slimy hands of her beloved.

“Why should I? The Starheart is within my grasp, and once I plunge my hand into your chest, I will snuff out its light?” the being chuckled and started running a finger down her chest where the Starheart was now pulsating through her uniform. 

“Because… what is revenge if the victim doesn’t know why?” she reasoned with it and tried to steady her breathing, a few moments more and she would have built up enough charge.

“No more questions little Lena Luthor, it’s time that I rip the Starheart from your chest and end this little game,” the being said and raised its hand with its fingers forming into talons ready to plunge into her chest.

“Why Lex? Why my brother?” she demanded desperate for a few seconds more and closed her eyes like she was preparing for the killing blow.

But she wasn’t afraid, she was instead thinking of her love for Kara, her love for Lex and for her friends and family and the fact that the darkness had made a mistake, it awakened her rage and that very rage fanned the flames of her willpower into a roaring inferno. 

“Because… he offered to take your place!” the being declared and as it plunged its talons towards her chest, she opened her eyes.

“BURN!” she roared triumphantly and let green fire mixed with violet light burst from her eyes and the beam smacked the thing straight in the chest hurling it backward.

Lex hadn't turned to evil! He’d offered himself up to save her and the memory had been buried beneath years of the darkness twisting and corrupting him. That hope and that knowledge fueled her even more. So, with emerald fires dancing over her body she burned away the tendrils of black ooze holding her down and the rage was made manifest by blood weeping from her eyes.

“You pathetic little thing!” the darkness roared when it recovered and its black tar-like body smoldered from her blast as it hurled waves of darkness at her but she shrugged them off and rose to her feet. 

“Try again because I’ve been called far worse than that!” she laughed and with another burst of from her bleeding eyes, she slammed the being against a nearby wall and away from Kara and her cousin.

“You cannot win!” the darkness mocked her as she formed a green blade and a violet shield while her eyes kept bleeding from the use of the red light of rage.

“I know, but in the words of my people, fuck you!” she taunted the thing and swung her emerald sword at it's head and forced it to form a black blade from its arm to deflect her attack.

Pushing the thing back while absorbing its the heavy blows each time its black blade struck against her violet shield it felt like her synapses were on fire. Using so much of the spectrum of emotion at once was beyond taxing, but these were desperate times. 

Their swords clashed again and again with emerald sparks and droplets of black tar flying everywhere. After each clash of swords, she drew on her rage to push the being back further and further from her beloved, but it was taking its toll on her to maintain it as she felt the blood running down her cheeks. 

They dueled under a black sky across the deserted streets of Metropolis, crashing of swords intermingled with optical blasts of raw energy and she felt a several blow lands against her green aura, some even cutting into her flesh, but she ignored the pain and the blood. Keep fighting Luthor, don’t you dare stop, she told herself. 

Finally, she managed to slash the being across the face which caused it’s features to distort and reform into those of her brother and it made her pause for a split second. That split second was all it needed and a heavy blow against her barely raised shield drove her to her knees. 

“You’re not going to win,” the thing said its voice shifting from hers to Lex’s as it pointed its sword at her chest where the Starheart was glowing with a pulsating light.

“I know,” she admitted and threw away her blade and shield constructs and grabbed the sword pointing at her chest with both hands. 

This was the price she was willing to pay but she’d figured out it while trading blows with the creature across the city. It wanted to be her in some sick twisted way and that she could use, although it wasn’t an elegant plan, it was the best she could come up with. 

“You wanted me fifteen years ago… well now you get to have me!” she declared and started using the power of her will to draw the black ooze inside her.

“No… what… are you doing?!” the creature protested as she felt the first tendrils of black ooze slither under the cuts on her suit and into her bloodstream. 

“I’m going to absorb you like I did the Starheart then I’m going to trap us all in a quantum-entanglement, it’s an old trick of mine you see,” she explained calmly having accepted her fate. 

This way they’d all be safe, Kara would be safe. Her vision started going dark as the ooze made its way up underneath the skin of her arms and neck and she felt freezing cold. Then all of a sudden, it stopped, and a roar of rage and defiance accompanied by the whirring sound of a mech suit's jetpack rang through the air. 

“Get away from my sister!” Lex howled as he came flying in wearing his old purple and green armor. 

Propelled by the blue flames of his jetpack her big brother slammed into the creature driving it back and severing the connection between them. Wrist mounted lasers sliced across the creature’s chest and arms before rocket-propelled fists bludgeon its face. Lex had somehow escaped, how she didn’t care, but he was here, armored and unleashing fifteen years of pent up rage at the thing which had corrupted him. 

“Lex… no…” she gurgled as she lurched forward and threw up a glob of black goo as Lex drove the creature into a nearby building and out of sight before she felt Kara’s hands on her shoulders.

“Oh, thank Rao you’re okay!” the blonde declared and pulled her up as Superman stumbled in to join them, both cousins looked pale and drawn and it had visibly taken a lot of their strength to break free.

“And what were you thinking?!” Kara then demanded with her blue eyes livid and her face set in a frown. Behind her, she could see Cassandra and James battle-scarred and equally upset at her for going for the self-sacrifice play but the pair was ready to fight. 

“It wasn’t my best plan,” she admitted sheepishly as the sounds of Lex fighting and buying them precious time could be heard from the building in front of her which he’d driven the creature into. 

“Well it was a stupid plan, now we need this dome down so Kal and I can recharge and then we need to get this thing into space and away from Earth,” the blonde hero said as Lex came flying out of the building and landed with a loud thud in front of them.

“Whatever you plan on doing Supergirl, do it fast,” he grunted and wiped the blood from his nose much like she always did.

“Clark…” he then nodded at Superman who eyed his former archnemesis warily.

“Lex…” Superman nodded back as the two former friends sized each other up looking ready to fight despite the darkness’s presence or maybe because of it.

“Oh, Rao! You two can posture later! Go buy us time, me and Lena will bring down the dome!” Kara all but growled at the two before then throwing a grateful smile at Cassandra and James for the pair having joined them as the darkness burst out of the ground having taken on a massive misshapen tentacled form in response to the damage she and Lex had inflicted on it.

“Yes ma’am,” Superman said with a wink and launched himself at the creature with the last dregs of his power as Lex gave her one last look.

“She's bossy, I like her,” was all her brother said before launching himself at the creature alongside his former friend.

“Oh well, never thought I’d be fighting alongside him,” James laughed with a shrug as he charged into the fray with Cassandra close behind him.

“Thanks for everything guys and see you the other side of this thing,” the cowled girl called out to them and despite being hopelessly outmatched the dark knightess of National City showed no fear or hesitation. 

Sparing a moment to watch her friends and brother battle the monstrous form that the darkness had assumed. Superman and Lex went high, heat-vision and lasers sizzling against the being’s flesh while James and Cassandra dodged flailing arms and hit at its legs with the weapons Kara had crafted for them. As for the other things that had surfaced, they'd sort out the revelations about the darkness' influence on Lex later and maybe just maybe she'd properly introduce him to Kara seeing as that it was clear as day now to her brother who she was engaged to. 

“Quick, what’s the plan?” she asked the blonde turning away from the battle to see that Kara was chewing on her bottom lip which the blonde beauty did often when she was thinking.

“You’re going to hate it, but I kind of need you to teleport me into the sun,” the blonde said pulling her along into the sky and away from the fighting.

“What?!? How is that better than what I was doing?” she shouted in shock as the blonde flew them to the top of the nearby Daily Planet building and gave an apologetic look.

“It’s the best idea I have got okay! I’ve scanned the dome, we don’ have enough power to bring it down and if I soak up enough solar radiation at close range it will supercharge my cells and I will be able to burst the dome from the outside and hurl that thing into space where you can do your quantum physics folding thingie and trap it and hopefully with enough space to contain the resulting explosion,” the blonde was speaking fast now, and she could barely make out the words, but she was used to deciphering super-speed babble by now. 

“I get it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she conceded with a sigh and started constructing a glowing green cosmonaut suit around Kara based on an old Soviet design from the sixties.

“Lena... I know this might not work, but it’s better than risking you becoming that thing,” the blonde admitted but she already knew that as she formed a green helmet from her thoughts and placed it over Kara’s head.

“I know, and it’s the only chance we have left with Lex deciding to be a hero, now get ready,” she said, shaking her head not wanting to think too much about what could happen if this too failed.

“If… if I don’t come back from this… there is a note hidden behind a wall in old janitor’s room at CatCo… I want you to get it and…” the blonde started saying but she put her finger on those pink lips to silence the beautiful woman and shook her head.

“You are coming back!” she stated firmly and the blonde looking down at her nodded with that damn smile blossoming on her lips.

“Ground control this is major Tom, I’m ready for takeoff,” the blonde lamely joked with a bright smile and she lunged forward kissing her hard on the lips while holding onto a handful of her suit.

“Rao be with you my beloved suitor,” she said in Kryptonian when she broke the kiss and pulled down the visor on the helmet she’d conjured up for the blonde hero. 

“And with you my beloved bride,” Kara replied with a solemn look on her face as she started folding space and time around the blonde using tendrils of green light. 

Kara grimaced as gravity started pushing down on her from all directions but all the while the blonde hero looked her square in the eyes with a look telling her that she better not dare stop or hesitate. Kara was tougher than she looked as the reporter often declared and Lena had never doubted that assertion once. 

“Space-time folding…” her ring started to warn her, but it was drowned out by the loud whooshing sound of Kara being thrust through time and space and into orbit around the sun. With that Kara was gone and she could hear the echoes of the battle between the darkness and her allies raging on the streets below her. All she could was join the fray and hope that Kara was right and this would work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My life is in boxes right now so finding time to write is tricky and I'm pretty sure I messed up posting the last chapter, but hope you guys enjoyed this one :)
> 
> Next chapter is shaping up to be a Kara chapter and we'll deal with the fallout of the revelations about Lex and how it will affect Lena going forward.


	18. Hammer of Rao

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara kicks all the ass as she finally embraces who she is!
> 
> Lena is a badass but also hugs people like a lot!
> 
> The battle against the darkness rages on as a hero falls!

Who am I? Why am I here? Geez really putting that journalism degree to work there aren’t we Danvers? I hadn’t realized how it would feel and what it would do to me. Diving into the heart of the sun in some mad gamble for a power-boost. Lena, I’m sorry, but I can’t focus with all this energy flowing through my veins and all I can think of is how would be easy to stay here... 

No! Remember who you are Kara! Remember where you came from and who is counting on you! 

**Doomed planet**

**Desperate parents**

**Protector of hope**

**Adoptive family**

That’s it, remember, you are the Last Daughter of Krypton! Beloved of Lena Luthor and you are stronger than you look.

By Rao, it burns! I feel the solar fire against my skin and its threatening to burn away everything I am, but I will not let it! I know why I am here! I know my mission and most importantly I know who I am! I am...

**Kara Zor-El**

**Kara Danvers**

**The Hammer of Rao**

**Supergirl!**

Lena, I’m coming, my love, this thing will not take our future from us, and I won’t allow it not when we’ve come so far! 

Bursting from the Sun’s corona bathed in its celestial fire and with her cape reduced to ash Supergirl rose like a phoenix from the roiling plasma seas of the Sun’s surface. With her blue eyes and blonde hair burning with cosmic fire and fists of steel encased in glowing plasma she rose up towards the inky blackness of space. 

Blinking her eyes, she half-smiled and raised her face towards the pale blue dot in the distance. One day, she promised herself, she’d use that vaunted journalism degree to write about this experience in more detail, but right now her adoptive home needed her. 

“You’ve done good Kara,” she heard a voice say in her mind and it was Astra speaking to her, somehow from across the gulf between this world and the next. 

“Go save your beloved bride,” her mother’s voice said next and maybe it was her hyper-charged senses reaching beyond space and time or it could simply have been the overload of solar-energy messing with them, but she smiled brighter. 

“Go forth Hammer of Rao!” a chorus of voices she didn’t recognize then commanded her and she gave a firm nod. 

Blazing like a comet, she flew past Mercury sparing a glance at its sunbaked surface forever facing the Sun and its frozen dark side bathed in cosmic shadows. It could be so easy to become lost out here in the vast emptiness of space. No, focus Danvers now is not the time to get all poetic and wordy, Lena is waiting for you back home and you don’t want to miss out on those rescue-kisses now do you? she reminded herself. 

Picking up speed she passed Venus cloaked by thick green clouds, Earth’s twin in so many ways before an ancient catastrophe had forever changed it into a broiling hell of greenhouse gases and endlessly erupting volcanoes. In front of her, the pale blue dot grew larger and larger and she felt her smile growing in response. 

Streaking past the Moon, she saluted the sun-bleached flag that Armstrong and Aldrin had raised on the satellite’s surface forty years ago and in front of her, on the East Coast she could see the black dome the darkness’ had erected on her beloved blue marble. Scarring its perfection. Frowning she dove into the thin azure line of Earth’s atmosphere with her glowing fist in front of her as she roared in defiance. 

This thing from beyond the stars was not welcome on her planet! The black opaque dome loomed large in front of her as she felt the cool air of her home planet against her skin. Scanning the mammoth structure with her senses she found its weak point and pushed herself to go faster as the sonic booms echoed around her. 

“One shot at this scion of El! Strike true for Rao! Stronger together!” the voices of her mother, her aunt, and her entire lineage of Kryptonian women declared in her mind. 

The force of the impact between the unmovable object and the irresistible force that was Kara Zor-El, the Hammer of Rao, echoed up and down the East Coast with the full might of the Girl of Steel unleashed and at the point of impact the black dome covering Metropolis started to crack and break with glowing golden fault lines spreading over its surface. 

“Burn… in…. my fire!” she roared, borrowing a phrase from her beloved Lena, as she unleashed her fiery and solar-empowered heat-vision and the golden fire spread across the dome. 

The dome buckled under the relentless assault of her fire and fury and then the entire thing exploded into tiny black droplets that rained down over the city of Metropolis. With the city exposed to sunlight, she could see the destruction that had been fraught on her cousin’s home and she felt her rage rising. This time, however, she didn’t fear her rage, she embraced it.

Hearing desperate screams for help with her enhanced senses and with her X-ray vision seeing people huddled underground in fear it all enraged her even further. How dare this thing come here, to her planet and threaten the people under her protection. 

Scanning the city, she quickly spotted the battle raging between Lena, their allies and the darkness with only Lena, Kal, and Lex Luthor, of all people, still standing. More worryingly, she could see Cassandra nursing an injured James and that fueled her rage even more. 

Still, the first thing she had to do was to get the civilians somewhere safer and with a burst of super-speed rivaling her cross-dimensional friend’s she cleared several miles of all living things from around the fight that raged between the darkness and her allies.

In one of the shelters, her super-speed rescue came to a sudden stop against a green glowing wall and behind it stood a blonde girl of maybe sixteen with a Green Lantern ring facing her with not a hint of fear on her young face. The blonde and masked teenager stood ready to fight her until she recognized who she was, and she understood what Lena had meant by not leaving the people without protection.

“Took your sweet time GL’s girlfriend,” the girl exclaimed sounding relieved, lowering her ring and smiling as she motioned for the people behind her to come out of hiding.

“Hailey, right?” she asked, to which the girl nodded and then the shelter shook with the teenage Lantern throwing up a green glowing shield over the people to protect them.

“That’s me, go I’ll get them out,” the girl urged her and when she paused the girl rolled her eyes at her.

“Lena needs you and I’ve got this, I’m stronger than I look,” the girl told her firmly and started levitating people out of the shelter in green bubbles.

Another rumble from the center of the city ended their argument and she gave the girl a quick salute and raced to find Lena. It wasn’t hard because there were massive explosions of green light coming from the battle between her girlfriend and the darkness. 

When she drew closer to the fighting, she could see that Lena was as always glorious and unyielding. The brilliant CEO was encased in a glowing green hard-light mech suit of a similar design to her brother’s and grappling with the darkness’ manifested form as Kal and Lex took turns blasting it with heat-vision, frost-breath, lasers or simply by hurling debris at it. 

The beast roared and lashed out at them with black tar-like tentacles, sending both men crashing into nearby structures, but Lena with her kryptonite green eyes bleeding red roared back at it in defiance 

With her mind filled with worry because she could see that Lena was injured, the raven-haired woman’s white cape was torn and there were rips and tear in her black and green uniform seeping with blood. Still, her beloved pressed on, raising a glowing green fist powered by an emerald rocket construct and punching the creature hard enough to shatter its form, but to her horror, it pulled itself back together and with a sickening crunching noise the beast backhanded Lena away. 

Lex was out cold and Kal was struggling to get to his feet, but her cousin needed time to recharge his powers having been cut off from the Sun for as long he’d been while fighting at full strength. Lena though wasn’t going down and with her raven-hair wild and loose the fearless valkyrie that was her bride-to-be was already getting back to her feet spitting blood in disgust. Time for you to tag-in Danvers she thought to herself.

“Face me!” she roared to draw the beast’s attention from Lena when she landed behind it with a loud crash as concrete broke underneath her feet, her eyes ablaze and her hair a crown of flames. 

“You!” the beast roared at her turning away from Lena to face her, but that was, of course, its first mistake.

“The one and only! Miss me?” she asked and raised her fists ready to fight, which seemed to give the creature pause, but she was counting on that. 

You see, she knew Lena Luthor and the raven-haired beauty, even though heroic, valiant, and brave when the situation called for it could also be coldly calculative and cunning. So, the moment the great beast turned its back on the CEO, Lena blasted it with the full force of the Starheart’s emerald fire making it roar in pain.

Taking her chance with the thing distracted she launched forward with her feet floating off the ground and punched the darkness square in the face splattering black ooze all over the street, then she pulled back and delivered another blow as it reformed itself.

“You cannot win!” the beastly shape of the darkness mocked her, and it was reforming itself as fast as she could punch it to pieces. 

Then with one of its arms forming into a blade, it stabbed at her with such speed she could barely avoid it. The creature thrust at her again and again but remembering Astra’s fighting lessons from her childhood on Krypton and her sparring sessions with Cassandra she found herself able to predict the darkness’ blows and thrusts, dodging them with relative ease and further infuriating the beast. 

“Yes… I... can!” she declared and with a blast of her heat-vision sliced the blade in half to which the beast howled in pain and fury.

Grinning she started trading blows with it, the darkness, the beast, the creature or the thing, all were apt descriptions of what she fought with the shockwaves of her blows reverberating throughout the city, but no matter how hard she hit the thing wouldn’t stay down. 

“I am the Hammer of Rao and you are not welcome here!” she declared as she kicked the thing square, in what she hoped was its stomach, and again disrupting its shape and sending it stumbling backward.

Rao! she loved cutting loose, and with the cosmic fire burning in her veins, she could fight like never before. 

“No, you’re a little girl who doesn’t know who she is!” it mocked her and swelled in size again before it slammed down on her with two massive fists forcing her to her knees as she raised her arms to shield herself from the blow. 

“Oh, your intel is way out of date, news flash! I know who I am,” she spat back at it while getting up to one knee while pushing it back with all her might. Then with another solar-powered punch knocking the thing of its feet before flying into it and taking it to the skies.

They tumbled in the sky before she managed to grab a hold of its chest and with her fingers digging into its oozy black flesh she started relentlessly punching it in the face. She knew who she was, and no primordial sludge monster was going to tell her otherwise. 

“I’m Kara…. Zor… El!” she declared after each punch and then flew the thing high up into the sky before slamming it down into the ground at full speed causing a minor earthquake that shook the city.

Straddling the now shrinking form of the beast at the bottom of a small crater, she started pummeling it with heavy blows each one ringing out like the blast of a canon as the ground around them cracked more and more. Pouring her rage into her assault hoping to end this somehow, but then she realized that the thing was laughing at her, cackling maniacally as the sky again turned dark. 

The dome which she’d shattered was reforming, but instead of it forming over the city of Metropolis it was spreading out covering more and more of the East Coast. In her rage, she’d made one mistake she’d brought the thing back into contact with the black ooze that covered the streets of Metropolis. 

To her shock and horror the black ooze that covered the ground in tar-like puddles had started flowing back into the being and then it headbutted her causing a spurt of blood to erupt from her nose. Breaking free from her grasp, it floated up towards the sky, it’s battered body reforming itself yet again.

“You stupid girl, stupid little pests all of you! I am what was before there was light! Do you think you can defeat me so easily?” it asked with its face morphing into a hideous mask of hate. 

Rising into the sky after it she got ready to engage it again and if she had to fight this monstrosity forever, she could do that. That didn’t solve the problem, however, her rational mind argued, of how each time she punched a chunk out of the thing, it would somehow flow back into it and its shape would reform. 

Giving fully into her rage like she’d done before she unleashed another flurry of blows against the hideous beast, splattering black ooze all over the sky, but the thing simply laughed as it drew itself back together. It was Lena who snapped her out of her battle-rage induced haze.

“Kara! Remember the plan!” Lena shouted at her flying up after them with a barely recovered looking Lex and Kal coming up behind her. 

Stopping her assault, the beast looked surprised when she grinned at it and with a burst of speed, she slammed into yet again it but this time she dragged it out of the atmosphere. Higher and higher they rose with Lena in close pursuit but with Kal and Lex not fast or strong enough to keep up before the two men fell back as she picked up fresh distress signals coming from the city below.

The darkness must have sensed what they were planning because it started fighting her harder at that moment. Lashing out against her with black tendrils emerging from its back and sides and hissing in her face, spitting black goo at her, but she held fast and burst them through the stratosphere.

Floating against the inky blackness of space she wrestled with the being as it tried to grow larger and her skin sparked whenever it struck her with talons or tentacles. Wrapping her arms around its wriggling body, she embraced it in a bearhug, squeezing it tight to prevent it from escaping and it was time for Lena to work her magic. 

One problem, however, she couldn’t let go of the creature, glancing over her shoulder at Lena as the raven-haired woman pointed her power-ring at them, but her beloved was wavering. Winking at the beautiful brainy woman she mouthed for her to do it and the green-eyed love of her life shook her head, but she smiled at her, hoping that Lena would trust her, and she did as always.

“You and me are going on a trip,” she laughed at the thing in the vacuum of space and its black eyes went wide as it realized what was about to happen and she felt green tendrils of emerald light wrapping around them both as she headbutted it for good measure, splattering black blood into the cold vacuum around them. 

Knowing that she had no solid plan for how she was going to survive this she instead put her faith in Rao and Lena. Feeling reality warping around her and the darkness as she held firm before she glanced back at Lena’s tear-streaked face and mouthed: I love you!

* * *

Pointing her ring at Kara and the hideous form of the darkness as the two wrestled against the backdrop of a starry sky, Lena Luthor, CEO, Green Lantern, and occasional L-Corp softball team captain cursed her fiancée for being so reckless. 

Thinking as fast as she could she tried figure how to pull off her trick in a way that would trap only the darkness in her quantum bottle, while Kara kept trying to get a tight hold on it to keep it from lashing out and escaping. Kara or the world, it was a horrible choice facing her and she knew that the blonde hero would never forgive her in this life or the next if she picked her over the world.

Not a believer in things like destiny she still felt that what the Book of Oa had shown them and what the hologram of Kara's mother had told them was coming true again. A Kryptonian hero would fall to banish the darkness and again a Green Lantern would be to blame. No, you can do this Luthor, you have help, you are not alone anymore! she firmly reminded herself and Rao there had to be another way.

“Superman, Lex, anyone down there?” she asked into a glowing green headset as it formed around her head, but she also started wrapping green tendrils of light around Kara and the struggling darkness in case all else failed.

“Please anyone out there? Because I could really use a hand up here guys, I don’t want to trap Kara with this thing, but I might not have a choice,” she begged feeling herself start to cry as Kara headbutted the thing to subdue it as the struggling pair tumbled through space locked in a deadly embrace and she could see Kara mouth that she loved her. With no reply coming from Earth-side she steeled herself and started warping the spacetime around them.

“I love you and I’m sorry,” she said more to her herself than to Kara and started wrapping both the blonde hero and the darkness tighter up in emerald light getting ready to trap them both for all time. 

“So dramatic!” a familiar voice crackled in her ear and she looked back to see a green streak shooting up from Earth’s surface towards her.

“Hailey! What are you doing here?” she demanded in shocked surprise seeing the teenager she'd deputized flying up towards her.

“Batgirl said that you guys were probably doing something stupid up here, so I came to help while the others are fighting these weird armored guys that showed up in Metropolis,” the teenage Lantern replied.

“I told you to stay in the shelter…” she protested but the fact the girl had come filled her with newfound hope. 

“Yeah, yeah you can be all big sister about it later, let’s hurry up and beat this thing!” Hailey declared and started trying to separate Kara from the darkness by trapping the thing in a green glowing bubble of her own creation. 

“Oh, we will, Kara change of plans! Get the hell out of there!” she shouted into her green glowing headset and the blonde hero blasted the thing with her heat-vision one last time to create separation between them. 

Grinding her teeth she started trapping the writhing darkness within a quantum prison as Hailey held it in place, but it was fighting her every step of the way and she could see that her young friend was shaking from the strain of keeping the thing contained. 

Just as it was almost working, but the darkness roared and burst out of the bubble that Hailey had trapped it in and started raging towards them while giving up all pretense of a humanoid shape instead it became a flailing mass of black energy and tentacles and lashing out at them like a wounded animal. It was horrifying to behold but she held fast, and to her credit, Hailey did too. 

“Oh crap, don’t worry I’ll get it back,” Hailey cursed and showing no fear the teenager tried to reform her bubble around the thing, but the creature was too enraged now managing to break free again and the shock of having her construct broken a second time threw the girl backward.

With evil intent, the darkness seized the chance and launched out a black spear-like appendage which pierced Hailey’s chest making the girl convulse before it withdrew the projectile from the girl’s body with a sickening crunching sound and a spurt of crimson blood erupted from the girl’s chest only to freeze in the vacuum of space.

“Hailey no!” she cried out rushing over to where the girl floated limply in the vastness of space with her eyes closing slowly.

“No!” Kara roared in anger at seeing the young girl mortally wounded and in another fit of rage, the blonde hero threw herself at the beast to resume their titanic struggle and this time it shook the firmament.

With Kara slamming the misshapen mass of darkness into a nearby satellite which erupted into sparks and then burning it with even more furious blasts of heat-vision the hideous thing cackled at them in defiance. Its shape writhing and twisting to avoid Kara’s enraged attacks while she checked on Hailey. 

“No... no, not her...” she whispered to herself scanning the girl’s vitals with a beam of green light from her ring, not having time or focus to construct anything complex

Feeling a fading pulse, she tried to seal the wound in the girl’s chest, but her green light didn’t have any effect as dark ooze seeped out of the wound along with the girl’s lifeblood. Hurling her willpower at the problem didn’t do anything and for the first time in months, she felt fear. 

“No, no, no,” she said, again and again, looking around for anyone to help her, but it was only the two of them floating in space with Kara and the darkness exchanging blows that resulted in bursts of blinding light when solar-powered fists met with the cosmic darkness made manifest. 

Presented with another horrible choice of aiding Hailey or fighting alongside Kara, she could see that the girl’s green aura was flickering out and that Kara was starting to show the strain of repeated exchanges with the darkness. It was a hopeless choice, she could theoretically save the girl given time but that would mean that Kara would eventually lose. 

Then she felt the Starheart pulsating in her chest and hope blossomed once more as with a small smile she knew what she had to do. Hailey wouldn’t die here, not today and with a gentle touch she reached her green glowing fingers inside her chest and pulled out the Starheart. 

“Go, help her,” she whispered to the multifaceted green star in her hand and it rose up from her palm pulsating against the darkness of space.

The Starheart had bonded to her by cosmic chance and perhaps out of fear as it had been looking for a place to hide. But it was not her destiny to wield it she knew that as she let it go and it flew up and then straight into Hailey’s chest.

Maybe once this was all over, she’d talk to Kara about hope and faith in more detail or visit a monastery in the Himalayas. who knew. Watching Hailey starting to glow with a faint emerald light while shielding them from the fallout of Kara’s fight with the darkness all she could do was hope.

All she knew right now was that sometimes she had to accept that science didn’t hold all the answers as much as she hated to admit it. After all, hope couldn’t be observed or quantified and sometimes you had to go with your gut feeling.

Then her hope was rewarded when Hailey drew in a deep breath of non-existent air while green flames danced all around her. The girl’s deputy ring vanished in a shower of green sparks as then dancing green flames sealed up her wound and burned away the black ooze infecting it.

“Wow!” the girl exclaimed with an explosive breath upon regaining consciousness, poking at where the hole had been in her chest as a new suit appeared in place of the torn Green Lantern uniform she’d been wearing.

Hailey’s new suit emerged from the dancing flames of the Starheart, it was a solid emerald color with a white outline of a star on the chest, and a white cape and boots completed it in a mix of her and Kara’s suits she noted. The girl’s bare hands then erupted into flames as she was reborn in the Starheart's fire.

“Welcome back kid!” she laughed in relief as the girl looked around with flaming green eyes seeing the world in a totally new light no doubt.

“You… how… where... and don’t call me kid,” the blonde teenager asked looking down at her hands covered in emerald flames.

“I’ll explain later I promise, but right now I need you to lend me a hand. Can you do that?” she asked, and the girl gave a firm nod with her aura of emerald flames flaring to life.

“Good, let’s play catch! Kara, throw it over here!” she shouted at Kara who despite her battle-rage somehow heard her and grabbing onto tentacle stabbing at her started swinging the misshapen monstrous form of the darkness around before hurtling it in their direction.

Hailey forming two giant flaming green hands caught and trapped the beast and it howled in agony as she started compressing it with green panels of light increasing the gravity around it and trying to contain it. The creature, however, kept lashing out at them in desperation with constructs of its own. Hideous winged and misshapen things from ancient and dead worlds, flew at them forcing them to fight them off. 

Needless to say, the darkness wasn’t going to go down without a fight and each time the thing lashed out it forced her to start over again and she felt her head throbbing and her nose bleeding from the strain. 

With a glowing green sword, Hailey sliced an incoming monstrosity in half with a triumphant cheer. The young girl was trying her best, yet she was still new to the Starheart’s powers and with her distracted, the roaring beast broke free again and charged at them, but then more help arrived as Lex’s voice crackled in her ear.

“Lena, you remember those spaceships we were going to build? Well, guess what?” her brother’s voice asked in her ear as gleaming silver spacecraft came into view with Superman flying next to it. 

“Lex!” she laughed watching Lex circling the thing providing cover for them and with Superman again joining Kara in her struggle with the darkness they started driving the thing back into Hailey’s fiery green hands.

“Do what you have to do, I’ll keep its minions of your backs!” her brother called out and banked his spaceship hard with green lasers erupting from its wings taking out a chunk of the beast in the process.

With Lex flying around and keeping the thing from striking out at them with its creatures or tentacles it gave them a chance to end this.

“Kara, Kal, again on my mark blast it with all you got!” she shouted into her green headset having formed a similar for Superman and Lex and she started calling on her other emotions as violet and red panels got added to the sphere she was forming around the darkness. 

Using everything that made her who she was, her willpower and drive, her love and compassion and yes, her rage and anger, she made a fist and the multicolored sphere she’d been constructing around the darkness collapsed in on it.

“Blast it now!” she shouted, and Kara and Superman started pouring on their heat-vision as she harnessed that heat together with gravity to entrap the darkness within her sphere. 

With Kara and Superman’s heat-vision reaching temperatures high enough to match those of the surface of the Sun, she started pressing the darkness down smaller and smaller while at the quantum level minuscule green machines constructed from her mental blueprints tore it apart. 

“Hailey, squeeze it together!” she shouted into her glowing emerald headset and the newly anointed teenage hero brought her two flaming hand constructs together as the force of compressing matter became too much for the fabric of space and time to take, resulting in a massive explosion of energy that washed over them with Lex desperately barrel-rolled his spacecraft to stay out of the path of the explosion.

“Hold it together!” she shouted and together they all stood firm but flinching from the force of the explosion washing over them, crackling against her aura. 

“I can’t…” Hailey groaned but Kara was there to aid the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder and somehow lending her hope, her boundless compassion and her indomitable will to the Starheart’s power.

“Yes, you can, stronger together, one more time!” the blonde hair declared as they trapped the darkness. 

The darkness convulsed, expanded and retracted against the sphere she was creating around it to serve as its prison as Hailey squeezed it harder with all her might using her Starheart generated hands and yelling in pain but never stopping as Kara and Kal poured on even more heat-vision. 

Even in the emptiness of space they could hear the howl from the thing, it tried one last time to escape by shooting out a probe of black goo towards the stars, but Lex was there swooping by in his gleaming spacecraft to blast it out of the sky in a symbolic moment of vengeance against the thing which had robbed him of his sanity.

In the end, the final explosion crashed against her hastily erected green shields, but they managed to contain the darkness and once the light from the explosion died down a single perfect orb hung in the space in front of them. It was like a multicolored gem and inside it recited a tiny spec of darkness floating inert and trapped for all time. They’d done it, it had taken every ounce of their hope and their willpower, but they’d done it.

* * *

The first thing she did once they touched down in Metropolis was to hug Kara, Hailey and even Superman as she waited for Lex to land his spaceship. To her relief, Alex and the DEO had shown up to take the fight to the Institution when the darkness’ human lackeys had shown up in a last-ditch effort to aid their dark master and to her surprise she found Jess walking around the carnage in a DEO jumpsuit with a tablet in hand.

“Jess! You didn’t need to come!” she declared as she ran up to her friend who smiled at her.

“And you should be wearing your mask,” Jess reminded her as they exchanged a brief hug.

“Oh right,” she said sheepishly and summoned up a green mask over her eyes and adjusted it.

“Are you leaving me to work for Alex?” she then teased her former assistant at her choice of attire and Jess only gave her a sigh and rueful shake of her head.

“No you’re stuck with me I’m afraid, but I had to borrow this thing so I could sneak onto a helicopter because I wanted to make sure that my friend was in one piece,” Jess admitted as the roar of Lex’s spaceship could be heard as it landed nearby.

Looking between her best friend and her brother’s craft, Jess shook her head and fixed her cape for her and giving her cuts and bruises a once over to make sure that she was alright. In her former assistant, she had a stalwart friend who cared deeply about her and she was glad that she’d come, but she hated choosing between people. 

“Go, hug your brother,” Jess said giving her a way out and making her smile before rushing to get Kara, the blonde hero giving a surprised yelp when she got pulled away from where she’d been talking to Hailey who laughed at them for being sickeningly cute.

Watching the gleaming silver spaceship land, she felt nervous, but Kara put an arm around her shoulders to reassure her that things would be alright. This would be her first time seeing Lex in over a decade without a pane of bulletproof glass or the influence of a monstrosity from the dawn of time between them. 

“Relax,” Kara whispered to her when the cockpit of the small craft opened, and Lex emerged from it in a green flight-suit running a hand over his bald head before waving down to her.

There was a new air of calm about her brother and cockiness too for sure, but Lex had always been a self-assured kind of guy. After waiting for him to climb down from the cockpit of his ship she wasted no time impulsively hugging him tightly and she smiled when he hugged her back.

“Lex, I want you to meet someone,” she said with a shy smile when they broke their decades in the making hug and took Kara’s hand.

“Lex this is Kara Zor-El, my fiancée,” she introduced her brother to the blonde hero and Kara, friendly as always, stuck out her hand.

“Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Luthor,” the blonde hero said and with a raised eyebrow Lex took Supergirl’s hand, but it wasn’t a dismissive look her brother was giving her beloved.

“Likewise, Miss Zor-El, but call me Lex,” he said shaking Kara’s hand giving no indication if he knew the blonde’s secret identity or not.

“Only if you call me Kara and thanks for saving her back there,” Kara said earnestly, pausing briefly before pulling Lex in for a quick hug and it made her heart jump seeing the two sharing all be it a brief hug. 

“It was the least I could do and as much as I wish we could talk further, I’m afraid Superman wants to return me to the authorities as soon as possible,” he said once Kara let him go and glancing over to where Superman hovered nearby.

“No, you can’t back to prison! Not when everyone knows you weren’t yourself when you did those things,” she protested as Kara put an arm around her again to calm her down and to show her support.

“Lena, clearing my name will take time, we both know that, but I am myself again and that means I can start working on making amends,” Lex said with a relieved but determined look on his face.

“Fine, but I’ll keep visiting you until you are cleared and if it’s okay Kara can come too…” she offered sound slightly grumpy with her emotions running high post-battle, and also sensing he was about to protest but then Kara gave one of her brightest smiles that seemed to have a similar effect on Lex as it did on her.

“I would be delighted to have both of you come to visit me,” he conceded with a small smile and nodded for Superman to come and fetch him.

“Lex, one question before you go, how in the hell did you get a spaceship?” Kara asked holding up her hand to stop her cousin and slipping into reporter-mode with a sly grin on her face.

“I was working on it… before things turned dark, it was supposed to be a gift for Lena on her sixteenth birthday,” he admitted rather awkwardly and pulled out a set of keys on a fuzzy-dice keychain from his flight-suit.

“So here is to all the birthdays I missed Lena with a promise not to miss any more,” he said solemnly as he took her hand and dropped the keys in them as Superman looking somewhat apologetic cleared his throat and Lex nodded at him that he was ready. 

“I'll hold you to that,” Kara said firmly before she could speak clutching the keys and the blonde gave her brother one of those looks that spoke volumes about what would happen if he didn’t keep his promise.

“I trust that you will do just that, and you take good care of my sister understand?” he said to Kara with Superman putting his hand on his shoulder signaling it was time to go.

“Well, this blows,” she muttered as Superman led her brother away while patiently taking his jokes in stride about how he liked the new suit and how they were going to be brothers-in-law soon which meant that they should have a drink together, maybe on the way to the prison. 

“I know, but don’t worry, I’ll tell everyone that will listen that he helped us,” Kara assured her and gave her another squeeze as Hailey joined them with Batgirl and James nursing what looked like a broken arm.

“Guess we won, uh?” Cassandra asked in the understatement of the century as the dark knightess joined them.

“Oh, for that I’m going to hug you too,” she laughed putting her arms around Cassandra for a hug and the cowled hero actually smiled underneath her mask.

Mental note, Luthor less hugging when you go back to work or people will figure out right away that you’re not a cold-hearted CEO she reminded herself. 

“Are you guys having a hug party without me?” Winn then declared scrambling over some wreckage with a laptop in hand to join them. 

“Winn!” Kara laughed at her oldest friend and picked him up from the ground swinging him around a few times for good measure. 

“Humans… squishy…” he protested before the blonde hero put him down as James on the account of his injury escaped their hug-wrath with a solid you did good man punch to his uninjured shoulder. 

“Guys this is Hailey, she’s new, but totally kicks ass!” Kara then introduced the teenager who a bit shyly waved at their weird little family she didn’t know she’d been adopted into yet.

“Oh, cool a new hero! What do we call you?” Winn asked excitedly as Alex joined them with her guns at her hips and Jess trailing behind her.

“I think our new friend has had a long enough day don’t you”? Alex asked the computer wizard and gave her a nod that spoke of the agent’s approval for a job well done.

“You just want to debrief her and make her sign a million things first, admit it,” Kara teased her sister who in an uncharacteristic display of immaturity poked her tongue out at the blonde who burst into laughter at the sight with Jess hiding her giggles behind her tablet. 

“No it’s cool, you can call me Hailey, but I think I’m going to go by Starheart, has a nice ring to it right?” the blonde teenager asked as the start-shaped symbol on the chest of her suit pulsated in agreement.

As her friends reveled in their victory and the fact that they’d somehow scraped by again by the skin of their teeth she found herself standing between Kara and Cassandra as both heroes were looking at Hailey with the trained eyes of veteran cape-wearers.

“We’re training her, right?” Cassandra asked them in that soft but no-nonsense voice and Kara grinned and nodded as she groaned at remembering how well she’d taken to tutelage when she herself had been a teenager, but the cowled hero was right of course. 

The newest addition to their growing team would need to be trained and taught the ins and outs of super-heroics and after all, it would be good practice for them for those kids, they kept talking about having.

With the sun setting over Metropolis they once again had a massive rebuilding task in front of them, but she had Lex back, Kara was at her side and they’d made a new ally. Perhaps, it was time to bring L-Corp back to where it started all those years ago under a different name and open up a branch in Metropolis. 

Whatever might come, however, their future once again looked bright and full of hope, and now they just had to get married. Because by Tesla’s Coils she’d totally forgotten about that the day was almost upon them as Kara had declared.

“What’s wrong?” the blonde goddess with the softest blue eyes and the brightest smile in the galaxy asked her when she no doubt felt her tense up.

“Nothing at all. Come to think of it everything is perfect,” she said with a smile of her own and gave the blonde hero her overdue rescue kiss because marrying Kara Zor-El was the world’s biggest no-brainer but at the same time severely butterflies in her stomach inducing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, that was fun to write!
> 
> I decided shortly after introducing Hailey that I wanted to give her the Starheart because truth be told Lena doesn't need it anymore
> 
> Next up will be the wedding, which let's be honest was the main plot of this story all along and then followed by a wrap-up or two for any dangling plot threads I might have forgotten about


	19. Future’s Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our girls finally get home after their battle in space and Lena has to calm an overexcited Kara down the best way she knows how
> 
> Kara gives Hailey her first lesson in super-heroics as Lena and Cassandra have to go back to work because L-Corp doesn't run itself, though Jess would disagree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wedding chapter is coming, but this chapter kinda flowed out of me and I liked it and yes there is fluff and smut ahead

Lena sighed happily in contentment when they landed on their balcony, they were home at last after their exhaustive battle in low-orbit and then assisting in the clean-up of Metropolis. It had given them a chance to provide Hailey aka Starheart with her first lesson in super-heroics, which was to always clean up your mess even if you didn’t start the fight causing said mess. Once that was done, they’d made sure everyone got home safe and sound and only then had they finally been able to make the cross-country flight back home to their apartment in National City.

Now, while she sipped on a well-deserved victory smoothie Kara was still buzzing, however, from her dive into the Sun. When she discreetly scanned the blonde hero with her ring because even though Hailey Goodwin had the Starheart now, she was still Earth’s Green Lantern. Seeing that the blonde hero’s cells were flooded with solar radiation, she was pretty sure that if her fiancée didn’t calm down soon she’d vibrate through either their floor or through time and space itself. Thankfully she knew the best way to calm down an over-charged Kryptonian.

“...and did you see that punch from your brother and you know I think I figured out something about your fusion reactor as well, and oooh and I should make pancakes because I’m super hungry… super hungry that’s funny because I’m Supergirl, oh did I tell you that I figured that out while I was swimming in the Sun?” the blonde was babbling while darting around their apartment still in her super-suit albeit barefoot having discarded her red boots on the balcony.

Granted an energetic and excited Kara Danvers was probably the cutest thing on the planet, in her humble opinion, but the blonde beauty was heading for a crash if she didn’t calm down a little bit. To that end, she provided a distraction by leaning suggestively against the back of their couch with a smirk. 

“Kara, can you help me with something in the living room, please darling?” she asked in a low husky voice knowing that Kara could hear her while generating a large glowing green traffic-sign pointing in the direction of the living room in front of the blonde to stop her in her tracks and get her attention. 

“Oh sure, anything you want, I mean you were amazing and deserve the biggest of hugs and….” the blonde’s babble-stream finally trailed of when she entered the room just in time to witness her bring a tube of red lipstick from the bathroom using a tendril of green light and applying it to her lips slowly with those deep sapphire blue eyes following her every movement. 

“Good I have your attention, now come over here please,” she playfully ordered the blonde goddess whose mouth was hanging open.

Finishing applying a thick coat of red lipstick she motioned for Kara to come hither with her finger before she unclasped the cape from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor with the fabric pooling around her feet. With Kara’s blue eyes fluttering from a look of stunned adoration to one of unadulterated lust she zipped down the front of her torn uniform exposing her cleavage to the blonde. Kara in any of her guises was after all a breasts-aficionado. 

“I am waiting,” she said in Kryptonian while keeping her voice low and running her hands up and down her body as Kara flew slowly up to her.

“Are you sure…” Kara ever caring and ever-loving asked tentatively putting those strong hands on her hips before slowly sliding them up to her breasts.

“Ringy healed me up on the flight over and I’m good as new… for you,” she giggled, and Rao it was only Kara that could make her giggle.

“Do that again… please…” Kara begged before forcing her to stifle a moan when the blonde’s thumbs grazed over her nipples making them stuffed and poke through the fabric of her suit.

“Oh, so you like hearing that I’m all… yours… Supergirl?” she leaned in and giggled into the blonde’s ear and the primal groan that arose from the Kryptonian’s throat made her shiver.

“I am going to worship you or claim you, not sure which yet, but I'll figure it out as I go along,” Kara promised in Kryptonian or maybe it was a threat because the blonde looked ready to devour her. 

Fingers that could pry atoms apart then pulled the zipper of her Green Lantern uniform lower and lower until it exposed her bellybutton before it reached a stop right above her crotch. Kara was being slow and methodical which was exactly what she’d hand in mind, but with a burst of speed Kara pealed the suit of her torso leaving her arms trapped in the sleeves.

“Looks like I’m at your mercy…. Supergirl…” she purred, vamping it up a little bit with her eyes locked on Kara as the blonde goddess wrapped her pink lips around her left breast and started sucking on her pale skin.

Starting slowly, but quickly growing greedier in her sucking Kara was soon feasting on her breasts. Fondling and sucking at them with droplets of saliva glistening wherever she touched down with her soft lips, before growing playfully rougher pulling at her achingly hard nipples with her teeth and grinning each time she made her groan. 

"Fuck..." she groaned when she felt Kara's warm fingers gliding over her stomach tracing a searing hot trail of sensations down to her pussy.

“Say it…” Kara demanded in Kryptonian with her sweet voice throaty and demanding as she rubbed the top of her pubic mound.

“Rao… Kara please...” she managed to squeak out in Kryptonian just as Kara’s finger dipped between her folds making a beeline for her clit.

With Kara rubbing her tingling and swollen clit in slow little circles she desperately tried to free her arms from the sleeves of her suit all the while Kara’s eyes remained locked on hers regal and commanding seeming to challenge her to break free. Needing to touch her goddess, her beloved, her superhero, her blonde beauty, she whined in frustration as Kara pinched her clit gently between her fingers and rubbed it harder and faster.

“Need… you…” she whimpered as she finally freed her left arm and grabbing onto a handful of blonde hair, she hungrily kissed the blonde hero smearing red lipstick everywhere in the process.

“You have me,” Kara mumbled into their heated kiss as those damn nimble fingers worked their magic between her legs which were shaking.

Rocking against Kara’s hand she felt her stomach muscles tightening as their tongues intertwined before she playfully sucked on the blonde’s pink tongue to assert herself, to which the smiling hero started blatantly cheating by vibrating her clit faster than humanly possible. Arching her body against Kara’s touch she threw her head back and let out a long moan towards the ceiling as it was the blonde’s turn to giggle.

“Rao I can’t get enough of these,” Kara declared and pulled at her bottom lip before bringing her lips back to her breasts which were already glistening with salvia from the blonde’s attentions. 

Those soft pink lips touching her breasts again was what did it, with Kara gently kissing her painfully erect nipples before flicking them with the tip of her tongue the blonde pushed her over the edge by pushing two fingers inside her with her hand stuffed down the front of her suit. The sudden penetration caused her to see stars making her cum hard on the blonde’s fingers and clutching Kara’s head to her chest while running her fingers through that soft golden hair.

“Ka… Kara!” she moaned loudly upon feeling her insides pulsating around the blonde's fingers as they curled up inside her and tiny rivulets of saliva ran down her breasts. Kara didn't stop until she was pawing at the blonde's strong arms and shoulders whimpering for her to stop.

When she recovered from her pulsating orgasm she opened her eyes and there were those blue eyes looking into hers, gentle, caring, innocent despite the glint of playful lust in them. Smirking she did the most logical thing she could think of, or at least the logical thing at that moment and with a burst of power-ring infused speed she tackled the blonde to the floor and kissed her hard while straddling her strong frame.

“Wha…” the blonde protested briefly at being knocked over but then moaned when she traced two fingers along the curve of her neck and started unbuttoning the collar of her blue suit.

“My turn… Miss Danvers,” she giggled and yanked the front of Kara’s suit open exposing the golden chain which held the engagement ring she’d given her with it glistened against tan tempting skin.

The change in the blonde was instant, gone was the dominant and demanding Kara Zor-El and in her place was the timid and cute reporter Kara Danvers. Reaching for the hidden compartment built into the belt of Kara’s suit she pulled out the girl's thin-framed glasses and placed them on that beautiful face as Kara bit her lower lip in anticipation.

“On the floor ma’am?” the blonde asked shyly and fuck it made her want her even more than she thought was possible.

“I'll have you wherever I want,” she declared, roughly yanking the blue fabric of the suit the blonde wore further apart exposing perky breasts and firm abs for her viewing pleasure.

“Yes… ma’am!” Kara gasped when she stripped the blonde hero on their living room floor, and she could smell how aroused her fiancée was.

“Good girl, now moan for me,” she ordered the reporter, cupping her soaking wet pussy and rubbing it with the palm of her hand while holding onto her blonde hair with a hint of roughness to remind the girl who was in charge right now.

“Lena…” Kara whimpered her name while spreading her legs partly and clawing at the floor as she held the blonde reporter in place.

“You’ve been a good girl Miss Danvers?” she demanded as the blonde goddess writhed in submission underneath her on the floor. 

“Yes ma’am...” the blonde reporter moaned nodding her head and it was the most heavenly sound on Earth escaping from those pink lips smeared with red lipstick.

Dipping a finger into the warmth of Kara’s pussy was an intoxicating sensation, the woman was incredibly tight even when soaking wet and she licked the valley between those firm breasts while sinking her finger in deeper and deeper until the blonde was arching her back off the floor and digging her fingers into the floorboards with the sound of splintering wood.

“Such a messy girl,” she teased the reporter who was at her mercy with her juices running down her finger and who in turn looked down at her through fogged up glasses and blushed.

Pulling her finger out slowly she grabbed onto the blonde’s knees and spread those long and toned legs wide open, exposing the blonde's pink, puffy and smooth pussy fully which made the shy reporter blush even harder. Licking her lips, she felt herself almost drooling at the sight of Kara Danvers exposed before her in all her muscular glory.

“Maybe… you should do something about that… ma’am,” the blonde stammered and she felt her shaking as she held onto her legs.

Not needing to be told twice she put the girl’s tanned and toned legs on her shoulders and started kissing her way down those riotously well-defined abs, the smell of her sex filling her nostrils and she was rewarded with a guttural groan when her tongue touched the top of the blonde’s slit.

The taste of Kara, overwhelming and sweet hit her tongue when she put her mouth over the blonde’s smooth pussy, she started sucking on it greedily with her hands digging into the firm flesh of that perfect Kryptonian ass. All the while, Kara writhed and moaned in response, running strong fingers through her hair and tried to pull her in closer.

Glancing up, she could see the blonde sucking in her stomach and her perky breasts rising and falling with each ragged breath she drew, then diving her tongue inside Kara’s wetness she moaned at the taste. 

“RAO ABOVE!” the blonde howled and bucked hard at the sudden penetration and she felt those long legs wrapping around her head tighter and tighter. 

Lashing Kara’s swollen sex with her tongue she kneaded her firm bottom in her hands and dug her nails into its firmness. The blonde had one hand on top of her and the other was toying with her glass-hard pink nipple. What a sight they made the pair of them, right there on their living room floor in half pealed of superhero suits fucking like rabbits. 

The hand on her head tightened its grip and legs of steel around her head gave a squeeze signaling that Kara was close, well that and the loud proclamation in garbled Kryptonian that the blonde was about to cum. So you didn’t have to be super-genius to reach that conclusion.

Fumbling with her hand she reached up and took hold of Kara’s hand on her chest and with them holding hands she drove the blonde over the edge of her orgasm. Fucking the blonde hero roughly with her tongue and feeling that super-tight pussy pulsating around it. 

“I’m…. fuck…. Fuck…. Fuck!” Kara cursed something she rarely did but that only meant that she was doing a good job and such a good job in fact that to her surprise the blonde’s juices flooded into her mouth as her reward when she came.

Letting her goddess ride out her orgasm she sucked at the nectar she’d been given until the legs around her head relaxed their grip and she crawled on top of the firm body of National City’s guardian. Kissing those pink lips gently she stroked Kara’s flushed cheek and smiled waiting for her to open those blue eyes.

“Love you,” she whispered and Kara not quite having full brain power yet could only nod her head. 

“Shower?” she suggested and the worn-out blonde again nodded with a sheepish look on her face. 

In a swap of their usual roles, she stood up and using a bit of power-ring fueled cheating she allowed its green aura to envelope her which enabled her to effortlessly pick Kara up from the floor making the blonde giggle uncontrollably.

“So that’s what that feels like,” the blonde hero observed in between fits of giggles at being carried like a damsel in distress for the first time.

“Don’t get used to it,” she teased the sweat-covered but thoroughly satisfied looking woman and she yet again marveled at the fact they were engaged as the diamond ring bounced on Kara's chest.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, and love you too,” the blonde said sweetly wrapping those strong arms around her shoulders. 

The shower was a much more subdued affair then their frantic coupling in the living room had been what with their energies spent as they now both felt the effects of the battle they’d just fought keenly and she groaned when she tried to dry off with a fluffy white towel. 

“Hey, I thought Ringy fixed you up,” Kara said with a frown as the blonde sat on their bed brushing out her hair and she was sure the woman's X-ray vision was scanning her right then and there.

“Cuts and bruises yes, but sore muscles those are my problem to deal with,” she grunted pulling on a pair of well-worn red shorts followed by a blue top sporting the crest of the House of El.

“That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you something actually, how does it feel not having the Starheart anymore? Are you like okay?” the blonde asked in a concerned tone of voice with her golden hair cascading down her shoulders.

“I'm... fine with it I think. Like I did the right thing I know that and I haven’t tried folding spacetime again but I’m pretty sure I can still do that so my power levels haven't dropped much. Honestly, it feels like I nursed an injured baby bird back to health and then set it free,” she tried to explain how it felt with her words tumbling out of her mouth and her mind going off in several directions at once. 

“You know you’re pretty good with words too, go on keep processing it,” Kara said with a smile getting comfortable on the bed but she felt the need to pace a bit. 

“Hailey is going to be great, once we train her and when she called me a big sister it felt good, I think this is what it feels to be a parent, kind of. I know it’s in good hands and I know it wasn’t mine to keep forever, does that make any sense?” she asked running her hands through her hair as she paced around their bedroom. 

“It does, but speaking of parents can you come here,” Kara said softly patting her lap as she sat on the bed in only a white t-shirt and green cotton panties. 

“Again?” she teased but the blonde rolled her eyes, which made her obey. Crawling into bed and resting her head on the blonde’s lap she felt Kara stroking her hair gently.

“Once we are married, I’m going to start building it,” the blonde said and she looked up in confusion, not being quite sure what Kara meant by that statement and she was supposed to be the genius of the household.

“A Kryptonian birthing matrix, I have the plans for it, it was what I was trying to tell you about before you sent me into the Sun,” the blonde then explained, and she felt her eyes grow wide.

“Isn’t that like… breaking ten different rules about interacting with a non-interstellar species?” she asked, and Kara nodded still stroking her hair.

“It is and I know given enough time you could figure out how to fuse our DNA together and somehow implant an embryo in one of us, but I realized something when I was out there and that is that I am Kara Zor-El and that means our child should be born like all Kryptonians before it, if you’re okay with that I mean,” Kara explained and there was a certainty in her voice until the last few words at least. 

“Will… will it still be ours?” she asked feeling a bit overwhelmed by where this conversation had gone and how serious Kara was sounding.

“Of course, it will, she or he will be the best of the both of us,” the blonde said softly with a smile spreading across her lips.

“How long will it take?” she asked the engineering question next and Kara gave a small laugh.

“Now there is that big brain of yours talking, a few months, maybe a year, I need to strip what’s left of the ship that brought me here for parts, maybe even the holographic generator in the lab too and somehow convince Kal to let me borrow the pod that brought him here,” the blonde explained what she had to do. 

Right away she understood that to do this Kara would have to destroy what the few things she had left from her homeworld. All for them and she felt like there was a lead weight in her stomach at the implication of just how far Kara would go for her, no, go for them and their future. 

“I’ll help,” she offered without needing to think about it, with noticeable panic in her voice and definitely a bit too loudly to which Kara again just smiled.

“I know you will,” the blonde simply said, and she sat up and looked into those blue eyes taking both of Kara’s hands in hers.

“When you say that you are Kara Zor-El… what does that mean?” she asked feeling a bit scared at the implication of that part of the blonde's statement.

“Well, it means that I’m Kara Zor-El always have been and always will. Don’t worry I won’t shout it from the rooftops or anything and Kara Danvers isn’t going away because I love working as a reporter and wouldn’t dream of depriving you of your favorite intern,” the blonde explained with a wink before taking a deep breath.

“But, slowly and surely I want to tell more people that I’m a Kryptonian, maybe start at the DEO, tell Hailey as well and then expand from there. After all, our children will be half Kryptonian and what kind of role-model would I be if…” Kara then went on explaining but she interrupted her before she could finish.

“If you aren’t proud of who you are and where you came from, I get it and I’ve said before that I’m behind you every step of the way,” she declared squeezing Kara’s hands to show her seriousness.

“Plus, the view is great from behind you anyways,” she then added with a wink to which Kara blushed a little.

“You’re really, really okay with me one day not being Kara Danvers?” the blonde asked her after a moment of silence looking a bit shy and timid.

“Well, I kinda wanted to call you Kara Luthor for a bit, but yes I’m okay with it because I love you dummy no matter the name. Hell if you want I'll drop the mask and tell everyone I'm Green Lantern too, as long as we're together in all things,” she answered right away without hesitation and leaned in to plant a kiss on the blonde’s forehead.

“Thank you, and hey, I thought you were going to go by Lena Zor-El,” the blonde replied with a smile blossoming on her face. 

“Whatever we end up settling on, Danvers, Luthor, Zor-El it doesn'ðt change that fact that Kara and Lena is who we are, last names be damned,” she declared and playfully pushed the smiling blonde down on the bed.

“Just Kara and Lena… I like that,” Kara said with her smile out in full force and Tesla’s Coils that thing could melt steel.

Cuddling with her bride-to-be she found herself running her hands through that mane of blonde hair yet again as Kara smiled at her in comfortable silence. By Planck's Constant they were going to have children, just like in those visions she’d had and it should have scared her, but in Kara’s arms, looking into her sapphire blue eyes she wasn’t afraid of anything.

* * *

The next day it felt jarring being back to work, but there she was back in her office with Cassandra going over her schedule for the day. Yet it felt so odd because a little over twenty-four hours ago they’d been fighting for their lives in Metropolis hell in space and now she was back behind her desk. Wearing a grey business-suit to hopefully offset how pale she had been that morning because no amount of sleep would have been enough after the battle she'd fought. 

“Doesn’t this feel weird to you?” she asked out of the blue and interrupting Cassandra’s rundown of her upcoming meetings as the dark-haired young woman wearing a purple form-fitting pantsuit looked at her with slight confusion before looking around as her vigilante training kicked in.

“Soundproof office and power-ring enabled security, relax,” she said and for good measure held up her hand and tapped the ring with her finger.

“Sorry, old habits and no it doesn’t feel weird to me, but you’ve only been living this life for less then a year so I understand if it’s a bit jarring,” Cassandra said visibly relaxing at being reassured that nobody would be able to listen in on them. 

“I know, Kara said something similar this morning, but don't you wish... I don't know that we could be still out here or something?” she asked and smiled at the memory of a barely dressed and still energetic Kara Zor-El darting around their apartment before they left for work.

“What I wish is that I couldn’t read body language when it comes to the two of you…” Cassandra said slowly closing her eyes and she clamped down on that memory, hard. 

“Sorry, what did James have to say about what went down in Metropolis?” she apologized feeling her face flushing pink and changing the topic for both their sakes. 

“Well, this morning… I mean he’s still not convinced your brother wasn’t himself for all those years, but he’s taking everything else in stride because he's been through these sort of affairs with Superman in the past,” the young woman said letting something slip she obviously didn’t mean to be public knowledge yet. 

“Your place or his?” she asked and smirking at the opportunity to tease the usually composed vigilante.

“His…” Cassandra mumbled while somehow through her force of will not blushing at being busted.

“Good, you two were being annoyingly noncommittal,” she laughed and got up from behind her desk to get the poor girl a drink from the small snack filled fridge Kara had convinced her to install for emergencies, of course. 

“Just because you’re getting married doesn't mean everyone has to pair off,” the soft-voiced young woman fired back accepting the offered bottle of diet soda.

Now it was her turn to go quiet as Cassandra reminded her of the inescapable fact that the big night was only a few days away. They’d set a date for the event, Jess had made sure the rooftop of the building would be empty and Kara had declared that it would be a Kryptonian ceremony with a superhero twist.

"Hey it's going to be alright, and I'm not good at this sort of thing like Jess or Kara, but you want to talk about it?" Cassandra offered, sensing the shift in her body as she fought back her nerves. 

“No, I mean it’s going to be a big change, but not really,” she admitted as they sat down on the couch where she and Kara often shared lunches.

“Well, I’m sure you two will make it sickeningly cute and endearing,” Cassandra teased her taking a long sip of her drink.

“Have you heard from Gotham?” she asked and brought her bottle to her lips while giving the girl what she hoped was a sympathetic look.

“Barbara, who you have to meet one day, said that Batman is… pleased, but don’t worry I’m sticking around here, someone has to keep you two space cadets grounded,” Cassandra said unable to hide a small smile from appearing on her lips.

“The Dark Knightess of National City has a nice ring to it,” she offered and held up her bottle for a toast.

“Please I beg you, leave the fancy words to Kara, but yes here is to National City,” the dark-haired woman laughed and clinked her bottle against hers.

“To National City,” she agreed and taking a sip from the bottle and she was glad that their friendly neighborhood ninja would be sticking around. 

Secretly she marveled at the change in the Cassandra, it was subtle but it was there. When she'd hired the girl, she'd been quiet and reserved and as Batgirl she'd been downright hostile to them at the start, but she liked to think that they'd brought her out of her shell somewhat and it was almost like she had a little sister in the girl now.“You aren’t going to go all soft on me are you, boss?” the body language reading ninja then asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No wouldn't dream of it,” she quickly said shaking her head which led to a rare laugh from Cassandra.

“You’re kind of an awesome big sister though, but repeat that to anyone and I’ll…” the girl stopped before finishing and she smirked at the vigilante.

“Here’s to the superhero sisterhood then?” she offered and raised her bottle of cola for another toast which the Batgirl of National City gladly accepted. 

The superhero sisterhood, that made her think about how Kara’s interview with Metropolis’ newest hero was going. It had been to Clark’s and his wife’s great annoyance that the blonde reporter had scooped them both and while she didn’t want to take all the credit for that, she might have suggested to Hailey through a Lantern text that Kara might be more fun to talk to then the Clark “Kansas Farmboy” Kent or Lois “Two Pulitzers” Lane. Also, the teenager had some questions which Kara would be more suited to answering.

* * *

Hailey Goodwin, newly anointed the superhero Starheart and wielder of said cosmic power was happily munching on one of the doughnuts she’d bought for their interview and Kara felt struck by how young the girl was upon seeing her in the civilian identity.

They sat on the rooftop of the building Hailey lived in with her mother, which had escaped the darkness’ attack on Metropolis where things almost looked like they were back to normal aside from the construction scaffolds dotting the city. Metropolis was resilient just like National City and a decade of being Superman home had made it quick to respond and rebuilt after disasters.

Both of them were in their civilian clothes for this interview with her wearing one of her old cardigans and a pair of jeans but with heels as part of her new image and Hailey wore a black band T-shirt, she didn’t recognize and it made her feel old, over a pair of leggings and some beat-up sneakers.

“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice,” she said and got her notepad out to start the interview.

“No worries, Lena said you were the best and I trust her,” Hailey and again the girl was so young.

“Anything you want to be off-topic for our interview?” she asked and the teenager shook her head chewing on the doughnut.

“Oh no wait, there is one thing please don’t ask me any relationship stuff because that’s awkward,” the teen said after finishing off her chocolate doughnut.

“No relationship stuff got it, and don’t worry I’m not Cat Grant,” she said and the girl gave her a look.

“Cat who?” the girl asked and tried as she might she couldn’t stop herself from laughing because Miss Grant would be furious hearing that.

“What’s so funny? Blinky twice if are you being taken over by some unseen alien force?” the blonde teen asked letting her hands become enveloped in green flames for a moment

“No, no, just thinking about a friend who is going to hate hearing that, any more questions or off-limits stuff before we start?” she asked and got her pen out.

“There is one thing… but it’s one of those kinda awkward questions,” Hailey said and looked down at her lap.

“What is it? Trust me I’m like the queen of awkward, gee that sounded bad, but yeah I am,” she said wanting to be there for this girl as she took her first steps into this brave new world she’d been thrust into.

“I asked Lena about this last time we texted and she had some ideas, but also she said you might have a better answer. How do you decide who to show someone, I mean show them that you’re different?” the girl asked quietly sounding every bit the nervous teenager she was.

Part of her wasn't surprised that the girl would ask her that and of course, Lena would have suggested she do so. Lena for all her genius and power wasn’t changed by said power and without her ring, she was still very much human. This girl of only sixteen, however, had one of the most powerful forces in the universe within her and from what Lena had told her it wasn’t like when the CEO had carried the Starheart because it had bonded permanently with Hailey to save her life.

“I guess you get to know the person first, see if they’re good and kind, but it’s tricky and I wish I had a better answer for you. It comes down to your gut feeling in a way,” she tried to come up with good answers but was struggling.

“Okay, next question then and sorry I promise we’ll do this interview, but how do you do it?” the girl then whispered while looking a bit awkward for even asking. 

“Do what?” she asked looking around to make sure nobody was around to hear them which was silly because they were on a rooftop high above the streets of Metropolis.

“This, the whole secret identity thing? Like, I didn’t believe you when you told me who you were, but everything about you is completely different, how?” Hailey asked and she smiled at the girl. 

“The glasses help and I can recommend a good website for ordering frumpy clothes from, but I’ve been trying to stop wearing those. It’s really about knowing one thing and that is that people don’t really pay as much attention to you as you think they do,” she tried to explain how her and Clark’s secret identities worked. It wasn't the glasses, the different hair or even the slouching, people were most of the time simply busy and forgetful.

“As much as I want to believe that, I hate to break it to you but I’m sixteen I think everyone is looking at me all the time,” the girl said back with a faint smile.

“Okay let me ask you this, Kara Danvers, did you know who she was before I told you?” she asked, and the girl shook her head.

“I get that you're nervous about being found out, but it’s all about the small things that make you feel better when you're in your suit. Lena puts her hair in a ponytail when she’s suited up, I keep mine up when I’m out of the suit but you have a mask and Lena can teach you to use the Starheart to blur your face and mask your voice if you like,” she went on explaining hoping she wasn’t talking too fast for the girl, because there was no such thing as a handbook for super-heroics one-o-one.

“You talk like a lot, but I get what you mean,” the girl then laughed holding up a hand to stop her babbling.

“Good, what I’m trying to say that we’re here for you, but I won’t lie to you and tell you that we have all the answers, unless you ask Batgirl then we totally do,” she said smiling at the girl before her hearing picked up on a small emergency, the authorities were taking care of it, but it might be a good learning opportunity. 

“Want another lesson?” she asked, putting away her beat-up notepad and pen with the interview all but forgotten and as she looked around for a place to change into her Supergirl suit.

“Yes!” the girl exclaimed eagerly and got to her feet, hands already flaming with emerald fire.

“Lesson one, clouds are a great place to change, failing that supply closets or bathrooms,” she said and pointed to the sky.

“Got it, but right now we’re on an empty rooftop and my suit kinda just appears over my clothes when I want it to,” Hailey said closing her eyes with intense focus showing on her face until in a green burst of light and swooshing sound the girl’s suit appeared.

The suit was a deep green, with a white star sigil on the chest of it, the boots and belt were like hers but white and the pure white cape was short, coming to just above the girl's knees. Finally, the mask was a copy of Lena's Green Lantern mask with white lenses hiding the girl's eyes.

“Well since we’re showing off cool ways to change into our suits, I call this one the Wonder Woman special,” she laughed and did a quick super-spin and emerged from it with her suit and cape on.

“It’s still so weird,” the teenager laughed adjusting her green mask and removing her hair from the ponytail it had been in.

“What is?” she asked getting ready to take to the skies and give the girl a quick lesson in the basics of civilian rescue.

“You, are like, hi I’m Kara Danvers and gee whizz it's nice to meet you and then boom you're like, I’m Supergirl what seems to be problem civilian?” the teen laughed her voice going from high pitched and perky to deep and booming.

“I’m not that booming, am I?” she asked trying to listen to her voice with her fingers against her throat which of course was pointless.

“Not quite, but common what’s the mission?” the girl asked excitedly, eager to get going and already hovering above the rooftop.

“There is a small fire five blocks west of us and we’re going to go and lend a hand because being a hero is not only about dealing with the end of the world stuff. Sometimes the best thing we can do is help where we can and bring hope,” she explained and took to the sky alongside her protégé, no that sounded cliché, sidekick maybe, no if anything Hailey was Lena’s side-kick, maybe junior partner would be the right term?

“Coming?” the girl asked breaking her train of thought and she nodded her head as they took off together. 

Hailey was a quick study, granted the fire wasn’t big and they mostly aided in putting it out and then helped lift the spirits of those affected by it. Being a hero wasn’t only about saving the day, in Lena’s words it was about giving hope. Something she looked forward to teaching both Hailey and her future children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys don't mind me drawing things out towards the wedding a bit, but I needed to have Kara and Lena have that talk about their children and Kara's decision she reached while fighting the darkness.


	20. Into the Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wedding and the end for now
> 
> Lena and Kara get hitched as Lena has one more surprise up her sleeve for her soon to be wife
> 
> Kara has a request off Alex that will change their dynamic.
> 
> Enjoy the fluff and the sweetness as Hope and WIllpower ends with the wedding of Lena Kieran Luthor and Kara Zor-El

Kara Zor-El stood in front of a floor-length mirror in her sister’s apartment and studied her reflection closely. Truth be told, she’d not worn this suit in months, but here she was in her original Supergirl suit, red skirt, exposed legs and all. This particular outfit had been all but retired after they’d made the new one, also known as the pants at last suit, for the fight against Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns, but tonight she was feeling nostalgic. 

Adjusting the reddish-gold bracelets signifying the bond between her and Lena and lost in her own thoughts she fixed her hair and pulled down the front of the suit to stretch the House of El crest across her chest. It was a little bit tight since she’d been putting in more time in the gym sparring with Cassandra as of late. 

All this self-reflection, however, didn’t take away from the fact that this was it, the night when she’d marry Lena Luthor and the raven-haired beauty would officially join the House of El. As for why she was in Alex’s apartment getting ready, it was because Kryptonian customs stated that she should prepare for the ceremony only with her second, which was the role Alex was filling, and her parents and Eliza was on her way to fill that role. Later she’d get to see Winn, James, Cassandra, and the others but honestly part of her was glad for the quiet. 

“I still can’t believe you’re getting married in costume,” Alex said handing her a glass of champagne and interrupting her musings in the process. 

“In uniform, and do you like your outfit?” she corrected her sister and accepted the glass, taking a small sip to calm her nerves. Who’d a thunk it, that all it took to shake Supergirl’s steely resolve was a pretty girl with green eyes saying yes to her. 

“Feels odd, because I mean, I’m not the superhero in the family, but yeah I like it,” her sister said joining her in front of the mirror with a small smile.

With Winn’s help yet again she’d made a Kryptonian suit for her sister to wear for the ceremony. It was a matte black version of her now regular suit with a small silver House of El crest on the right breast almost like a sheriff's star and a belt sporting the insignia on the buckle. Knowing that her sister had her worries about the whole affair what with it taking place on top of the old L-Corp building she’d added a weapon holster to right hip of the suit as a compromise.

“Alex, don’t say that, you’re just as a much as a superhero as me, Lena or any of the others,” she said with a smile taking her sister’s hand and squeezing it.

“I’m not going to argue with you tonight, but at least I look the part, right?” her sister asked and checked herself out in the mirror. 

“You do and I’m sure Jess will love it too because the girls love the tight spandex. Though it’s not spandex but a mesh fabric made out of an alloy me and Lena designed, oh you get what I mean,” she teased her sister before Kara the nervous babbler took over.

Alex did look like a superhero, but her big sister had always been her hero only difference now was that she had a suit to match. There we so many things she wanted to tell her sister right now too, she wanted to thank her for pushing her to train, for always having her back and tell her that even though they’d had their spats that she loved her very much. Before she could start babbling all those things, Alex interrupted her again. 

“Are you ready for this Kara? You looked to be pretty far away for a moment there,” her sister asked changing the topic from herself and Jess but blushing slightly, to which she happily nodded her head before taking a long sip of champagne, granted, it didn’t do anything to her of course but the bubbles gave her a nice feeling when they tickled her tongue. 

“I’m… perfect and oh, before I forget, I got you one more thing,” she said darting away at super-speed leaving the glass hanging in the air before she returned and caught it before it had even fallen an inch.

“Here, open it,” she urged her sister, holding out a polished metallic box with a red bow on it as her sister was shaking her head with a barely contained laugh at how hyper she was right now.

“What is it?” Alex asked taking the box from her hands and running her fingers over the metal before pulling on the red ribbon.

“It’s something I should have made for you a long time ago,” she said resolutely and finished her champagne in one big gulp.

“You know, you’re much more serious these days, when you want to be that is,” Alex stated and opened up the box before gasping at the sight of the gift. 

“It’s my new thing, but do you like it?” she asked nervously trying to gauge her sister’s reaction to the box’s contents. It held something she’d been tinkering with the design of for the past months, with the final build coming together only a few days ago and now had felt like the right moment to present it to Alex because she had one more thing to ask of her sister tonight. 

“How… how did you make this?” Alex asked picked up a silver and gold Kryptonian pistol and put the box away.

“Part from memory part from what mom’s AI core could tell me, then I scavenged some parts from here and there and Lena helped with the power cells. It’s a weapon befitting a warrior of the House of El,” she explained as Alex tested the balance and the sights of the pistol.

“The House of El?” her sister asked turning the gun over in her hands and running her fingers over the crest on the grip.

“Yeah of course, because I’ve been thinking about something for a while so please hear me out. Seeing that you’re my sister and on Krypton that would automatically make you a member of my house… I wash hoping you'd like to join it... if you want to that is,” she said with her voice growing quieter as she fiddled nervously with her cape. 

“Kara… I...” Alex said softly slipping the weapon into the holster of her suit and smiling at her. 

Of all her friends and family, Alex had been the one advocating the most caution in her quest to become more openly Kryptonian, the woman after all saw the worst of humanity's hatred towards aliens every day in her job as a DEO agent and it was only natural that she wouldn’t wish any of that on her sister. 

“But before you say anything, please know that what no matter what you choose to do, I’ll always be your sister. Even if I’m embracing my heritage more fully a part of me will always be Kara Danvers, that annoying girl that dropped into your life out of the blue all those years ago and became your sister,” she said earnestly and was rather surprised when Alex responded by hugging her tightly.

“Is that a yes?” she asked before wrapping her arms around her sister and gently squeezing her, then the answer was one that she wouldn’t have guessed in a thousand years.

“Stronger together,” Alex said in slightly accented Kryptonian and that made her squeal and lift her sister up from the floor.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, this means so much to me, you have no idea,” she blurted out slipping into Kryptonian to which Alex laughed.

“Slow down there, I understood thank you but that’s about it,” her sister laughed kicked her feet to signal that she’d very much like to be put down now.

“Oh sorry, I guess I’m a little emotional right now,” she apologized and put her sister down again. 

“Hey, you’re getting married to a smart and bad-ass woman, it’s okay to be emotional but repeat that to Lena and I will deny it until the end of time,” her sister assured her and before she could speak again there was a knock at the door.

“It’s mom,” she said taking a peek with her X-ray vision as Alex shaking her head again went to open the door for Eliza.

“Alex, look at you!” the Danvers matriarch declared seeing her eldest daughter dressed up as a superhero. “And you!” she then declared seeing her with her face lighting up at seeing her younger daughter getting ready for her wedding.

“It’s just my old suit…” she said blushing slightly but still did a little twirl holding onto the hem of her red skirt.

“It’s not that, you look radiant and a little nervous, but still radiant,” Eliza said and hugged her and if ever there was an evening for hugs to be given freely and often this was it.

“Thank you so much for coming,” she said, squeezing her adoptive mother tightly. The more people that could make it to their wedding the happier she felt. Especially, since they were already one person down what with Kal being called off-world on short notice making him unavailable.

“What do you mean? I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” her mom declared and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear gently.

“I know, I’m just a bit paranoid what with Kal being called off-world and I mean this is like a perfect opportunity for Murphy's Law to strike!” she admitted and sat down on Alex’s couch smoothing down her skirt.

“Come on, you have nothing to be nervous about,” Alex said sitting down on her right side with Eliza on her left both of them comforting her and easing her worries.

“Listen to your sister, what happened with your cousin couldn’t be helped and Lena is a good girl, sorry woman so you have nothing to worry about,” Eliza assured her and patted her knee.

“How… how is Lena holding up?” she asked knowing that Eliza had paid a visit to Lena before coming to see them.

“She’s doing alright,” her mother said diplomatically, and she could only imagine what Lena Luthor was doing right at that moment. Maybe her mom was over-reacting because no doubt the CEO was busy planning out their future in some elaborate spreadsheet or maybe lounging in her favorite chair sipping on the good scotch. 

* * *

Across town at the Luthor-Danvers household Lena Luthor was, in fact, busy in the secret laboratory hidden being a sliding bookcase accessible by pulling on The Hobbit. It helped her calm down to work with her hands and banging the hell out of a piece of spaceship alloy prototype was just what the doctor had ordered. Not that she was nervous of course because Luthor’s didn’t get nervous, she reminded herself while pounding away at the piece of glowing metal at her make-shift forge with a glowing green hammer generated by her Green Lantern ring and willpower

Doctor's orders indeed, since It had after all been Eliza’s suggestion that she do some work to calm her nerves when the Danvers matriarch had come by to check up on her and she wasn’t about to say no to the woman who insisted that she call her mom. The visit had been tougher on her emotions than she'd expected what with her biological mother only a faint photograph, the woman who raised her jailed at an undisclosed location and Lex still dutifully serving his time, though she had lawyers working on that, it had felt nice to have Eliza come to check up on her.

And to her credit she’d only cried a little bit this time when the woman had hugged her and told her she was honored to call her daughter. In response to that statement from her... mom... she’d solemnly promised once more to take care of Kara and be the best wife to the blonde she could be, and Eliza had simply said that she already knew that. 

The visit had been all too brief as Eliza was pulling double duty as the mother of the brides, plural, tonight and wishing her luck the woman had given her blue ribbon she said was from her wedding dress, something old, something borrowed and something blue all wrapped up in one small thing. It was at that point she’d ugly cried, and it had taken Jess, Eliza and glass of the good scotch to calm her down. The blue ribbon lay on a nearby workbench now and again she was struck how the lab that she'd once used to hide from the world was now her and Kara's family room for a lack of a better term.

“You should be getting ready you know,” her former assistant reminded her and snapping her out of her thoughts. 

Standing in the doorway to the lab, Jess was wearing a floor-length green dress that reached her ankles and with her shoulders bare, the color choice was a nod to her uniform since she was her maid of honor even though Kryptonian customs didn’t have that role exactly. Still, Jess had been adamant about being by her side when she married Kara and joined the House of El, 

“I can be ready in five minutes,” she said dismissively and using the power-ring she let her Green Lantern uniform, minus the mask, materialize around her in a shimmer of green light. 

“Show off! But come on, put that hammer down and let me do your make-up for you because Kara will give me one of those pouts if I don't take good care of you,” Jess offered while putting a hand on her shoulder to make her stop her work.

“I can do my make-up,” she insisted but let her hammer fade away into green sparks and if letting Jess help her meant sparing the woman from being on the receiving end of one of Kara's pout of power she'd so gladly. 

Before following Jess she grabbed the blue ribbon Eliza had brought her and tied it to the hash of her uniform before joining her friend in the kitchen where things were set up for her make-up session with an open make-up case already on the counter as she hopped onto one of the barstools by their kitchen-island.. 

“I’m well aware that you can do your own make-up Lena, but right now you’re probably too shaky to even apply your own lipstick,” Jess teased her and picked up a brush and some powder.

“I’ll have you know that my hands are rock solid,” she protested and held out her ring-hand but to her horror found it shaking like a leaf. So much for those nerves of steel uh Luthor, she thought to herself. 

“Uh uh, rock-solid, sure,” Jess said with a smile and started gently applying blush to her cheeks.

“Fine, but keep it light, Kara… I mean I don’t want to overdo it tonight this isn’t a board meeting,” she consented with a grumble, slightly frustrated at being this unusually nervous as Jess hummed while she worked on her make-up.

“So, soon you'll be Lena Zor-El, are you ready for that?” her former-assistant asked unscrewing a tube of eyeliner.

“You know, I thought I’d be more worried about that, but I think I’m ready for it,” she said with a smile to which Jess smiled back at her and for a moment she enjoyed the silence with her trusted friend making sure she was ready for the biggest night of her life. 

“Do you remember the last time we were in this kitchen?” the woman asked her and started fixing her hair, trying out various styles before settling on keeping it down and adding some curls to it.

“I was a bit beat up then, but yeah I remember,” she said remembering how after one of her first outings as Earth’s Green Lantern, Jess had found her battered and bruised while picking up a dress for her. In keeping with the woman’s character, she’d tended to her wounds and afterward set about aiding her in her endeavor to become a hero in any way she could. 

“Did you ever think we’d be here like this?” Jess asked and picked a shade of red lipstick that Kara would love to apply to her lips.

“Not really, but I’m glad we are,” she admitted truthfully, before becoming a hero, before Kara and everything that had happened since then, she’d never expected to have a friend like Jess or any friends at all for that matter.

“I’m glad too, Miss Luthor,” the woman who’d gone from being her assistant to her best friend told her with a smirk.

“You haven’t called me that in a long time,” she laughed and almost messed up the lipliner that Jess was applying to her lips.

“I like to break it out from time to time, but I’m proud to call you my friend Lena,” Jess then said putting the finishing touches on her lips.

“I… I hope you used waterproof mascara because I might cry again and yes I blame Kara for this crying and hugging stuff,” she laughed and then sniffled. 

“Well, Kara has been a good influence on you I’ve always said so,” her friend laughed and handed her a tissue to dab away the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“And now I’m leaking,” she joked quoting the Grinch and sniffled again before steadying herself because Kara Zor-El deserved Lena Luthor at her best, not a sobbing mess of a girl. 

“It’s okay, and I won’t tell anyone, I still have that non-disclosure clause remember,” Jess whispered in a sneak tone of voice and that made her laugh and it felt good.

Before she could do something soft and soppy like hugging the woman for dear life, the elevator dinged and opened to reveal Cassandra and James in full superhero regalia as Batgirl and Guardian along with Winn in his best suit and tie. Kara had insisted that this be a superhero affair, after all, thus everyone who had an alter-ego came dressed as such as for why they were all here, well she was their ride and Kryptonian customs dictated that Kara was to prepare with Alex and Eliza.

“That was the weirdest elevator ride ever,” Winn declared stepping into the apartment and then waved at her as Jess squeezed her arm before fetching refreshment for their friends.

“What? You never rode in an elevator with a woman dressed as a bat and a guy in a suit of armor while listening to Kenny G before?” she teased her friend and giving him a quick hug before shaking hands with James, they weren’t hugging friends after all. 

“Glad you came,” she nodded to the man who in another world might have been in her shoes tonight.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” James nodded back firmly grasping her hand with a smile as he had his helmet tucked under his arm. They both loved Kara, she knew that, but the man had made it clear that he didn't hold a torch for the blonde and had been their biggest supporter when it had come to convince Clark to accept her. 

“And no I can’t say that I have, but this hugging thing from you is new,” Winn laughed in answer to her question while she sized Cassandra up for a hug and the cowled hero raised an eyebrow, daring her to do it.

“I can dodge you,” Cassandra said with her soft voice muffled through her mask but clearly reading her body language.

“Yeah, I’ve got a power-ring,” she countered and to her surprise, the Batgirl of National City gave her the briefest of hugs.

“See, I knew we’d wear her down,” Winn laughed only to be elbowed in the ribs by James for teasing his girlfriend.

“Winn, you talk too much, but congratulations Lena, I mean it,” Cassandra laughed softly at Winn’s pained groan and then smiled at her through her mask.

Before she could join Cassandra in making fun of Winn or trade Kara stories with James, she felt her ring vibrating and excused herself to the balcony to answer it. The cold evening air hit her face as she brought up a small emerald hologram of the caller and it was Hailey, the new host of the Starheart, smiling at her.

“Hey Lena, I wanted to call and wish you luck, I’m not interrupting am I?” the teenager asked her and as the small emerald hologram flickered like a flame.

“No, no, and thank you but you could have come to the ceremony you know, you're part of the team after all,” she said and glanced up to the stars which so long ago had brought all this into her life. Kara, Jess, Eliza, Cassandra, yes even Alex, all of her friends and adoptive family and the spunky girl she was now training.

“I know, Kara said the same but I have a curfew and good luck explaining leaving town to attend a Kryptonian wedding in National City to my mom but you’re welcome to try if I can watch,” the girl laughed and the hologram flickered in response to the laughter.

“I think that's beyond even me because there are limits to my powers, but we’ll meet up again soon, I promise,” she joked, and the girl’s hologram smiled at her.

“Next training session better include flying, but I also called because I’ve got a surprise for you. You see, I’ve been playing around with my powers a bit and don't get mad… just hold on you’ll see… think of it as my wedding present to you,” the teenager blurted out and her hologram flickered out before being replaced with a life-sized projection of Lex in front of her, with her brother wearing one of his business suits of old and shrouded in green flames.

“You know these green orbs showing up in my cell might start arousing suspicion, but I'm very glad to see you,” he brother ruefully joked as she felt herself smiling from ear to ear.

“Lex!” she exclaimed and hugged the hard-light hologram of her brother that Hailey had projected across the country from Metropolis. She did make a note to herself, to do some proper testing of the girl's power levels next time they'd go to Metropolis to train with her.

“In the holographic flesh, how are you holding up?” her brother asked hugging her back and even though this wasn’t him, it was close enough.

“I’m good, a little nervous, but good just out here looking at the stars you know,” she said taking a step back to look up at the stars again. 

“I remember that you always wanted to see the stars up close, but I never expected that you’d be marrying someone from them,” Lex observed sounding wistful at the memories of happier times, and she chuckled.

“That was cheesy, but thank you,” she laughed as her brother looked up at the stars with her for a moment.

“I don’t have long before the guards notice that something is off, but I want you to know that I’m happy for you, for the both of you,” he said and she could only nod her head, thinking that one day they’d be able to spend more time together.

“I know, and we’ll come to visit you soon,” she promised and the hard-light hologram of her brother put his arm around her shoulders.

“Enjoy your honeymoon first, I’m not going anywhere,” he said sadly, and she couldn't help but sigh at him because his whole martyr thing was both admirable and yet slightly annoying. Still, he was here and she'd been dying to talk to him about something that had burned on her.

“Kara wants children,” she blurted out, not having really talked about that with anyone yet not even Jess. 

On Lex’s face she could see a range of emotions play out, his features shifted from one of shock and then to a look of surprise before those emotions gave way to a bright smile as he squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head with lips made out of green flames.

“You’ll be a great mother Lena, and one day I promise you that your children will have an uncle Lex in their lives,” he promised her and she looked up at him with a small smile on her lips.

"You better spoil them rotten and take them for jetpack rides," she said and he laughed nodding his head. 

"Of course I'll be fun uncle Lex..." he said but then the hologram faded out before she could reply that he better keep all these promises or she'd sent Kara to fetch him.

“Sorry, the guards came to his cell, and I had to shut down the link or should I have knocked out the guards?” Hailey’s voice came from her ring and she smirked making a note to add ethical use of your powers to what they were teaching the girl about the intricacies of being a superhero.

“It’s fine and thanks for doing that for me,” she said and took a deep breath to calm herself. 

“It was the least I could do and are you going to be okay?” the teenager asked through her ring and the worry was evident in the girl’s voice.

“I'll be fine, actually I’m better than okay, I’m great because I’m getting married tonight,” she said finding herself laughing again because it made her deeply happy to say that out loud.

“Yeah you are, now go get married and send me pics,” the superhero in training laughed with her and the laughter drew the attention of Jess who had come looking for her as the voice of Hailey faded away with the words crap mom's here signaling that end of their call.

“You alright out here Lena?” her friend asked peeking her head through the balcony doors and she could hear the banter of her friends drifting out into the night.

“Just getting about ready, are we good to go?” she asked and started constructing a green glowing spaceship from the blueprints she’s been working on lately. It was still amazing to her that she was able to prototype new tech using only her willpower and the ring needless to say it was slashing her research and development costs greatly. 

“I hope that thing has a cloaking device,” Jess teased her and she raised her eyebrow at her former assistant’s comment.

“What? With these friends of ours all being massive nerds, avoiding Star Trek has become impossible,” the woman fired back with a wink and she put the finishing touches on what she was calling the Green Comet Mark One multipurpose spacecraft. Now it was time to go marry Kara and get on with the rest of their lives together.

* * *

On top of the old L-Corp building that was now flanked by the towering National City Towers Kara paced back and forth as she checked her imaginary watch and shook her head which caused J’onn to put his hand on her shoulder as she smiled up at the Martian. As her and Alex’s honorary space-dad she’d asked him to oversee the ceremony, not that it was a big affair or much fanfare involved. There was a small platform set up for them to stand on, strings of white light were hung above their heads and the moon and stars provided the backdrop. J’onn would speak a few words before asking for their 'I dos', then declare them to be of one house before they'd speak their vows. It would quick and simple, but then why did it feel like she’d swallowed a dozen butterflies and who would even do such a thing?

“She’s coming don’t worry,” J'onn told her in that comforting deep voice of his, and she nodded at him with a smile and fixed her cape for the hundredth time.

“Yeah and she’ll come if she knows what’s good for her,” Alex quipped from beside her with Eliza shushing her daughter. 

It had been her idea to have this be an informal superhero affair after all Green Lantern was also dating Supergirl and now with the moon rising in the sky it was almost time and the time until she would be married to Lena Luthor could be counted in minutes. The location was fitting too because it had been on this rooftop, during a party Lena had thrown shortly after her arrival to National City, that she’d first seen how brave and clever the CEO could be and also realized how the raven-haired woman gave her all sorts of funny feelings that had taken her a while to process. 

“Want me to go fetch her?” Kal’s voice asked from above them as her cousin came in for landing carrying a bundled-up Lois Lane in his arms.

“Kal! Lois!” she laughed and hugged her cousin when he put his wife down and then gave Lois a hug.

“I thought you were off-world?” she asked letting go of Lois and her cousin winked at her.

“I was, but what good is being Superman if I can’t make it to my cousin’s wedding?” he asked, and she playfully punched him in the shoulder but was grateful that he’d made it.

Then the doors to the rooftop flung open and out strode Jess followed by Cassandra and James with Winn in tow. Her two best male friends had been banished, by custom, to her and Lena’s apartment, but she was glad to see them now. Both men had cameras with them since she’d wrangled awarded winning photo-journalist James into documenting this moment for them and Winn had offered to video it for prosperity.

“Where is Lena?” she blurted out at not seeing Lena with them and upon realizing how loud she’d been she felt herself blushing at how nervous she was now that they were almost at the end of their long road to get here.

“She wants to make an entrance, you’ll see,” Jess said preventing a super-powered searched party from going out with a shake of her head almost not believing that the pair of them were about to be married.

“In fact, she’s coming now, so places everyone,” Cassandra then declared, and they all looked at the vigilante wondering how she knew that, but the girl wasn’t saying how she knew.

The entire rooftop became bathed in soft green light as Lena Luthor descended from the sky, in full Green Lantern glory sans her mask. The raven-haired woman’s emerald aura glowed brighter than ever before and Lena was actually smiling, not a smirk or a grin, but a full-on smile and she felt her heart jump. Smoothing down her skirt she unconscionably made herself more presentable as her brainy goddess descended from the sky and landed in front of her with soft green boots touching down on the raised platform Jess had arranged for the ceremony to take place on.

“I’ve come as promised my suitor,” Lena then declared in clear voice using English for the benefit of their friends and family and as she spoke the aura around her shifted from green to violet. Above them the white lights turned a mixture of green, violet and even blue, signifying their love, their hope, and their willpower as a couple. 

“I… wow…” she struggled to find the words with Lena unmasked in front of her, literally showing her love for by tapping into the violet light of the emotional spectrum. It wasn’t until Alex nudged her in the side that she was brought back to reality.

“Let it be known that my bride has come, J’onn if you please?” she declared, motioning to the Martian after finding her voice and Lena was looking at her with utter love and devotion in those kryptonite eyes. You’re screwed Zor-El, but you already knew that she thought to herself. 

“Friends, family, we gather on this night under the eye of Rao to join these two women as one, now will you please take each other’s hands” the Martian’s deep voice rang out across the rooftop.

“Love the suit,” Lena mouthed at her when she reached to take her hands and she smiled back at the green-eyed woman as the violet glow spread over them both. Lena was being a showoff but she loved that about the woman. 

“Kara Zor-El, do you accept Lena Kieran Luthor into your House with an open mind and pure intentions, will you share all you have with her and be her protector in all things?” the Martian asked her and she looked into Lena’s kryptonite green eyes with the answering being nothing but yes.

“Yes, I do,” she said firmly in Kryptonian and her intent meant that it needed no translation.

“Lena Kieran Luthor, do you enter into Kara Zor-El’s house with an open mind and pure intentions and do you promise to share all you have with her and be her protector in all things?” J’onn then asked Lena and the raven-haired beauty smiled at her and it was such a bright smile that she might have melted on the spot.

“Yes, I do,” Lena replied in flawless Kryptonian and squeezed her hands as from their gathered group of friends and family she could hear both Eliza and Jess giving happy little sobs.

“Let it be known that these women have pledged themselves to each other under the banner of the House of El, let all here bear witness to this and to their union and now it’s their turn to be heard,” the Martian declared and she felt her stomach doing little flips as the butterfly swarm returned.

There was no kissing in Kryptonian weddings, and she was dying to kiss Lena’s red lips but before she could do that, she had to speak the words she’d been scribbling in her notepad for the past few weeks. It had been hard to figure out how to best encapsulates everything Lena meant to hear in a few sentences, but she’d managed since after all she did words good.

“Lena, when I first met you, I couldn’t think straight because I was overwhelmed by your brilliant mind and right now, I’m reminded strongly how I felt that day. You were funny, bold and fearless and I couldn’t stop stealing glances at you,” she said and that got a chuckle out of her friends since after all like she'd realized thanks to Lena being straight and thinking straight was overrated. 

“After that first meeting, I kept making excuses to be around you and to bask in your intelligence and your sharp wit. Now I admit it, I was clueless for a long time about the full-depth of my feelings for you and it took a brush with my mortality to truly see you for what you are to me,” she paused both for effect and to take a breath.

“You are my hero, my biggest fan, my rock, my soulmate, and you taught me that I should embrace everything I am without fear and always have hope for a better tomorrow,” she went on as she felt herself tearing up because Rao this was harder than she’d thought it would be.

“Kara…” Lena whispered to her and her raven-haired fiancée, no, her wife, was smiling at her with glistening green eyes as the violet glow around them both calmed her.

“When… when… I thought I’d lost you, it felt like I’d lost a part of myself and when you came back, I once again felt whole. When we moved in together you made space for me and I love the life we’ve built together, the family we’ve made for ourselves and it’s my deepest wish to grow old with you,” she went before taking a deep breath and pulling herself up to her full height.

“With that said, let everyone here bear witness to me saying that I’ll love you until the star themselves burn out and I promise that no matter what comes I’ll face it by your side. We are stronger together and we’ll be together in all things, always,” she finished with her voice barely a whisper and smiled shyly at Lena. Now it was the CEO’s turn and she waited with bated breath.

* * *

Tesla’s Coils! How was she going to say anything remotely as beautiful as that, Lena thought as her mind raced while she listened to Kara pledging to love her until the stars burned out and she struggled to even remember the speech she’d prepared for this part of the ceremony. Then looking into Kara’s sapphire blue eyes, she knew what she would say and went with her feelings instead of her carefully laid plans.

“Kara, my beautiful, brave and optimistic Kara,” she started and paused when the blonde blushed at her words.

“When I came to this city I knew no one and had no friends, but then you flew into my life and you had this unwavering faith in me even though I gave you no reason to have it and I think you saw the good in me. For that, I can never thank you enough and I think that if not for that faith in me, that spark of goodness might have easily been snuffed out,” she admitted and decided that if there was ever a moment to lay her soul bare it was now.

“I… I never thought I’d have true friends, a real family, but you helped bring all that into my life and again I find myself thanking you, if that becomes a theme tonight it’s because you’re simply amazing like that,” she said and glanced at their gathered little family with a genuine smile.

“But now for something I never told you before… you see when I became a Green Lantern and tried to be a hero, all I kept thinking was what would Supergirl do,” she then said with a little laugh allowing her violet aura to turn green again.

“You were always a hero!” Kara blurted out with the excitable blonde being unable to restrain herself and she giggled at the outburst.

“See folks that right there is my darling Kara,” she declared, and their friends and family gave a good-hearted laugh and Kara gave her a shy smile in response.

“So, just like you will always jump to my defense, I promise that I’ll always come to your aid, be it against a sentient plant monster from Sigma-12, to combat a sudden dearth of pot-stickers or to help you with some problem that you’d be chewing on your pen trying to solve, I’ll be there for you, always,” she promised the blonde beauty. 

The next part of her speech was something she’d been thinking about a lot, but it wasn’t until that moment that she decided to go through with it. It wasn’t something required of her and Kara had told her that she didn’t expect it of her, but she wanted to do it and it would be the grandest of gestures she could perform for the blonde hero that was now her wife.

“Thus, let it be known that from this day forward that I am Lena Kieran Zor-El, loyal member of the House of El and partner of Kara Zor-El,” she declared and held up her Green Lantern ring to her lips.

“Ring, please update Oan records to reflect this and broadcast it to all known worlds, please,” she spoke into the ring and it flashed with a green light from deep within its depths as she raised her fist to the sky.

“Oan records have been updated and the announcement is ready to be broadcasted to all sentient worlds, congratulations Lena Kieran Zor-El, Green Lantern of Sector 2814,” Ringy replied, but there was a cheerfulness to its usually droning voice as Kara gave a little squee when a green beam burst forth from her ring, pierced the night sky and shot towards the stars.

To borrow a phrase from Kara, she might not be able to shout from the rooftops that she was married to Kara Zor-El, yet. But she could broadcast the fact to the entire known universe that she was now Lena Zor-El and trillions of sentient beings would be aware of that fact

“With that said, Kara Zor-El, if it wasn’t painfully obvious already, I love you stupid much now and forever,” she said lowering her hand and before J’onn could speak Kara’s hands were on her face with the blonde kissing her senseless as their friends and family cheered them on. They would always be stronger together and together in all things no matter what and would fly into the unknown as one.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the end for now :) They're married, Kara is working on the birthing matrix and Lena is at peace with herself for the first time in her life.
> 
> I will one day write a sequel, but I need to take a bit of time to recharge the creative batteries and think up a good plot, plus I've got another new story I've been dying to tell
> 
> Now since we're at the end of another story, I would like to thank a few of those who've stuck with my weird little tale so here goes
> 
> Lance58  
> SuperCat_123  
> v0rt3xRo  
> Irishmegs88  
> Harlan_Malkavian  
> Chris_Clevenger  
> Knightlyjay  
> Gluesniffer  
> TurnOffAllMyBS  
> crazyykidd  
> Ess_ca_pe  
> VannHelsinng  
> shadowcub  
> Migdalia  
> seguist  
> Carterkane007  
> izobelle 
> 
> And whoever I may have forgotten, the kudos givers and the bookmarkers, thanks for giving this story a chance and letting me have my fun


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